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A THEOSOPHISTS 

POINT OF VIEW 



BY 



% \ y H 

JAMES ALBERT CLARK, 

^resident Theosophical Society, Washington, D. G. 



PRESS OF THE PATHFINDER. 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 




THE UB*ARV OF 

CO*GR£SS, 
Two Co*** Rec€iv€c 

JUL. 16 19Gt 

CtASS XXe. N#. 

copy a 



COPYEIGHTED 1901 

by M. A. B. Clark. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THREE PLANKS IN THE PLATFORM— THREE POSTU- 
LATES IN THE PHILOSOPHY. 

Theosophical Society founded at New York 1875 — First 
plank, Nucleus of Universal Brotherhood; second, Study of 
ancient and modern religions, philosophies and sciences; 
third, Investigation of the unexplained laws of nature and 
psychic powers latent in man — All societies keep same plat- 
form — Differentiation caused by contending opinions as to 
government and administration — Such teachings unjustly 
charged as a wanton disturbance of faith — The proclamation 
issued by the "Theosophical Society in America" at Boston, 
April, 1895 — The motto: "There is no Religion higher than 
Truth" — A member of the Society not necessarily a Theoso- 
phist per se. The Three Postulates in the Philosophy — Em- 
erson quoted as teaching in conformity thereto — Evolution 
in the East older than Lamarck and Darwin — The Book of 
Dyzan — The Perfectibility of Man the chief aim — Reincar- 
nation a necessity to "mount and meliorate" — The Law of 
Karma (cause and effect) compels rebirth — Man is a soul — 
Dr. Lyman Abbott quoted — Prof. Max Muller's Gifford Lec~ 
tures — His definition of Theosophy — Vapid mysticism from 
the East has crept in to the detriment of Theosophy — 

Pages 1 to 11. 

CHAPTER II. 

IB THERE ATHEISM OR AGNOSTICISM IN THE FIRST 
POSTULATE OF THEOSOPHY? 

Misconceptions of the work of Theosophy — Bigoted 
views — The religious value of "The Unknowable" — Prof. 
Max Muller quoted — The idea of God — Prof. John Fiske's 
idea — Prof. Huxley on atheism — Prof. Ladd of Yale Univer- 
sity on the "Cognitive faculty" — Herbert Spencer's symbols 
of "mind and matter" — The scientific method — "I and my 
Father are one" not fully interpreted — "I am That; that too 
art thou" — Dr. Paul Cams on the "Idea of God" — Sir Edwin 
Arnold's "Light of Asia" — Isis unveiled has a deeper mean- 
ing than the bigoted sectarian can fathom — Sir Matthew 
Arnold — The "God within" is the "Light that lighteth every 

iii 



man" — Prof.Ladd's "Philosophy of Knowledge" — The "Great 
Breath" — The Vedic Rishis — The only God man can know i3 
the divinity within — Paul at Athens — The "Unknown God" 
of the Athenians — Let all of Paul be quoted, not proof-texts 
— He studied for the ministry at the "desert school" — Why 
do not preachers explain that curriculum? — The Sufis, a 
school of Arabian esotericists, can teach Andover and 
Princeton something concerning Paul — Paul not correctly 
interpreted — He studied the basic principles of the esoteric 
lore, the same in all the old wisdom religions — The science 
of Psychology will bring clearer light on Paul's teachings. 
Pages 12 to 21. 

CHAPTER III. 
INDIVIDUALITY AND PERSONALITY. 

Proper study of Mankind is Man — New Psychology 
throwing light on the subject — Definition of Personality by 
Prof. Max Muller — Tracing to the original concepts and roots 
— Ego always on guard — The Perceiving Inner Self is the 
Higher Self, — the divinity within — Man, from Manas, a 
Sanscrit word, "to think" — The Thinker the Individuality — 
It persists — The seven-fold division of Man in Eastern teach- 
ing — Four lower the Quaternary; three upper the Triad — 
Emerson quoted — The school in which St. Paul studied — 
The Oversoul — Prof. Brinton's "Religions of Primitive Peo- 
ples" — The Christos of the Greeks same as Mahatma of the 
Sanscrit — Atma, the Higher Self — Marcus Aurelius — The 
Hindu Upanishads — Prof. Ladd of Yale on the "Knower" — 
The Chairs of Psychology — Lyman Abbott on Destiny — Goe- 
the on the "stubborn power of permanence in whatever has 
once possessed reality, or individuality" — Faraday on a 
"particle of oxygen" — Atma-Vidya (soul knowledge). 

Pages 21 to 34. 

CHAPTER IV. 

SOUL AND SPIRIT— THE DISTINCTION. 

Vague definition in dictionaries — Theosophical explana- 
tions clearer — "Soul a vehicle of Consciousness" — Prof. Clerk 
Maxwell on the "go" of a thing — Prof. Denton on the "Soul of 
Things" — Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt — Pope on Soul — 
Emerson's Oversoul — Anaxagoras 500 B. C. — Heraclitus be- 
fore him — Pythagoras 586 B. C. — The soul of a man is the 



iv 



"go" of a man — Atoms have souls, all have souls — The "go" 
implies a "goer" and a direction to go — Voltaire's attempt 
to define — Spinoza and Leibnitz — Matthew Arnold — Charles 
Johnston, M. R. A. S. of the Bengal Civil Service, Retired, 
Prize Sanscrit Scholar of India — Quotation from his "The 
Memory of Past Births" — Man formed from combined attri- 
butes — A scientist's agnosticism as to attributes — How did 
man obtain these attributes — The teaching of the sages — 
Major Powell on "Motility and awareness" — Prince Guata- 
ma's teaching on the continuous "I am I" — Lord Kelvin's 
hypothesis on life coming to this planet on a meteoric stone 
— Prof. Newton in Smithsonian Report — Lord Kelvin's com- 
putation as to age of this earth — Nature's Finer Forces 
elaborated in the Science of the Tattvas in Sanscrit — Hie- 
rarchies of Beings, all under law as we are — Prof. Huxley 
on the analogy in favor of superior beings — Darwin's rea- 
soning — Elisha Gray's illustration of the sensitive plate in 
photography — Same reasoning by Theosophists during all 
ages — The sponge as a metaphor — Atma (spirit) the sev- 
enth principle — Paul's division, — body, soul, spirit — Whit- 
tier quoted — The bridge between man and divinity never 
broken. 

Pages 34 to 51. 

CHAPTER V. 

REINCARNATION, 

Is Reincarnation paralleled in nature? — Second Postu- 
late of the philosophy sustains it — Whittier in accord — As- 
tronomy confirms appearance and disappearance — The 
spectra as proof — Prof. Huxley on the right to claim support 
from the great argument of analogy — Clerk Maxwell — Prof. 
Max Muller — Sir William Crookes — Camille Flammarion — 
Shopenhauer — Upanishads — Lessing — Hegel — Leibnitz — 
Herder — Fichte — Goethe — Parallel in the solar system and in- 
dividuated globes — The air we breathe, breathed over again 
— J. B. Dumas quoted — Geology in support — Botanical Ga- 
zette, May 1895 — Spore fruits retain individuality although 
soaked six years in alcohol — Wheat in pyramids of Egypt — 
Conservation of energy — Flux and Re-flux — The Sage of 
Koheleth — Emerson also in line — Henry Drummond quoting 
Huxley unconsciously confirms Theosophic teaching — Prof. 
E. B. Wilson, of Columbia College, New York, on "The Cell 
in Inheritance and Heredity" — Prof. H. W. Conn of the 



Chair of Biology in Wesleyan University in "The Story of 
the Living Machine" — The "Tattvas" of the Sanscrit — The 
anathema against pre-existence of sonls at Constantinople 
A. D. 553 — The social nature of Christendom at that time — 
Gregory Nazianzen's comments on Church Councils — Dr. 
Momerie on same — The translation of the papal edict — Dr. 
L. Mosheim — Plato taught the doctrine — Herod quoted — 
Gibbon followed the trail of this thought — Orlando J. Smith 
in his work, "Short Views of Great Questions" — Drum- 
mond's failure to convince — A Methodist preacher on total 
depravity — Babes born are "devils in bud" — The Theoso- 
phist answers: They are gods in embryo — Transmigration 
and Metempsychosis definitions confusing — Sir Wm. Jones 
Pages 52 to 87. 

CHAPTER VI. 
KARMA. 

The law of cause and effect — Always present in the 
thought of Man under various aphorisms — Prof, Jevons on 
finer matter — Dr. Young — Prof. DuBois — The Great Breath 
— Kismet in Arabian thought — Karma in Aryan thought — 
Calvinism on Predestination — The Buddhistic Parable of 
the Lost Son, compared to the Prodigal Son — The masculine 
and feminine the human organism — Charles Johnston on 
Karma — The Parsees. 

Pages 88 to 105. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE GENESIS OF MAN. 

The Garden of Eden in all archaeological literature — 
Means the Golden Age in each — Researches around Nippur 
— Sven Hedin's second trip — Bishop Usher's chronology — 
The Kali Yuga Cycle of the Hindus— Extract from "Biblia," 
an archaeological periodical — The still open question wheth- 
er mankind sprang from one stock — The new theory is the 
oldest — Man came in streams of monadic essence as do all 
things pertaining to color, form and sound — Pythagoras's 
teachings — Chladni's demonstrations of forms in nature by 
wave action — Law that operates anywhere operates every- 
where — The sponge cited as illustration — Inorganic matter 
did not start from Asiatic soil — The Protozoa originated 
evenly over the globe — Likewise the Mollusks and Articu- 
lates — Fishes, reptiles, birds and mammalians must have 



vi 



obeyed some uniform law — Man no exception to law — The 
deluge — Prof. Brinton on Anthropology — Quotation from 
arcane teachings — Sensations of Tone by Helmholtz — His 
"Klangfarbe" — Lockyer and Tesla on Messages from Mars — ■ 
Dr. Alexander Wilder on "generation" — The Psychological 
bearing — The Scientific bearing of the question. 
Pages 106 to 117. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
THE PSYCHIC POWERS LATEST IX MAX. 

The Eastern Teaching very old — Quotation from Flam- 
marion — The A. U. M. — Formation, Transformation, Re- 
formation — Prof. Brinton on the Psychic origin of all re- 
ligions — A universal postulate — Spiritualism, Christian Sci- 
ence — Mental Science and Faith Cures — Society for Psychi- 
cal Research — Extracts from — St. Augustine and appari- 
tions — St. Thomas Aquinas — Peter Huber (1810) on study of 
ants — The "'astral" not a projection of bodies but a projec- 
tion of consciousness — Huxley's "Man's Place in Nature" — 
From Krishna Science to Mormon Science — No pecuniary 
charge for services in Theosophy — Medical treatment need- 
ed — "Little Lives" of the Sanscrit same as microbes — The 
Environmental Stimuli of Science — Prof. Brinton on potent 
stimuli — The "unplumbed abyss of the sub-conscious mind" 
— No limit to the knowing of the Self that knows. 

Pages 118 to 139. 

CHAPTER IX. 

TRAXS CEXDEXTALISM, MYSTICISM, OCCULTISM, ES- 
OT ERIC 'ISM. AXD OTHER TECHXICAL TERMS. 

Whirligig of Time and Cycle mean same — John Quincy 
Adams on Emerson — Goethe's "Westoestlicher Divan" — 
Leibnitz on innate ideas — Transcendental Biology — Kant's 
Transcendentalism — Theodore Parker on Emerson — Bron- 
son Alcott and his Plato — Emerson and the Bhavagad Gita 
— Charles Malloy as Biographer of Emerson — Poem 
"Brahma" in Atlantic Monthly 1857 — Preceded Darwin's 
works — Mysticism — John Stuart Mill quoted — Prof. Gold- 
win Smith on Mysticism — Balfour's "Foundations of Belief 
— The "Riddle of Existence" by Goldwin Smith — The soal 
in the universe — Other quotations from the "Riddle of Ex- 
istence— Camille Flammarion in "The Unknown" — Trance 

vii 



states by monks of various orders — Recejac's "Basis of the 
Mystic Knowledge" — Occultism — Prof. Jastrow, University 
of Wisconsin — Popular Science Monthly of Sept 1900 — Prof. 
Jastrow's criticism — Theosophy complimented as well as 
criticised — Spiritualism scored — The supersensuous admit- 
ted in Theosophy — Oriental Wisdom Religions noted — The 
Law of Karma — We are in this world — Not to run away 
from it — Dr. Lyman Abbott quoted — His "Theology of an 
Evolutionist'' — Temptation needed in the struggle — Revival 
of Ancient Mysteries — Gen. Albert Pike — His "Morals and 
Dogma" — Gerald Massey's work — Champollion's first publi- 
cation — Prof. Max Muller — "What India Can Teach Us" — 
Pages 140 to 166. 

CHAPTER X. 

A THEOSOPHIST'S ATTITUDE TO CHRISTIANITY. 

Bitter attacks from orthodox pulpits — Theosophists not 
iconoclasts — Upholders of true Christianity — Dr. Momerie 
quoted — Ecclesiastics'. "rarely hesitate to lie" — Early lying in 
the church — Rev. Heber Newton of New York — Theosophist 
welcomes teachings of leading Christian thinkers — Charles 
Kingsley — Lyman Abbott — N. D. Hillis — Phillips Brooks — 
J. Minot Savage — Heber Newton — Robert Collyer — William 
Ellery Channing — James Martineau — Cardinal Gibbons on 
the Good Samaritan — Nothing new in Christian Scriptures 
— Truth older than Christianity— The Real always was Real 
— Bunsen quoted — The Way the Truth and the Life on 
Egyptian Granite — Zoroastrian lore — The Upanishads — The 
Book of the Dead — Sunday School Lessons — Dazing the 
minds of children — Prof. Huxley quoted — His letter to the 
"Three Bishops" — "The Warfare of Science" by Andrew D. 
White — A Presbyterian preacher's sermon — Divinity's first 
manifestation in the flesh — A Washington preacher's attack 
on Buddha's teachings — Sir Edwin Arnold in refutation — 
Prof. Max Muller, Rhys Davids — Spence Hardy — Dr. Paul 
Carus's Gospel of Buddha — Harvard University's transla- 
tions of Sanscrit — The Theosophist consults authorities on 
Buddha — Lowell's poem on great teachers — The rock-cut 
edicts of Asoka — Buddha not a sanctified juggler— The 
Nazarene not a showman — Prof. Huxley quoted on Mira- 
cles — Lyman Abbott on the miraculous — Prof. William 
Kingdon Clifford — The Parliament of Religions under 
Asoka — Christianity borrowed from Buddhistic records — 

viii 



Dr. J. D. Buck's "Mystic Masonry" — Krishna's "immaculate 
conception;" all sun-gods thus conceived — "Sons of God" 
in the days of the Alexandrian University — The Theoso- 
phist not a believer — He doubts to investigate — He investi- 
gates to believe — Honest doubt beginning of true piety — 
No dogmas as now existing in the teachings of Tertullian — 
The scientific doubter purified religion — "Christ the first 
true gentleman" — The shock to orthodoxy — A Baptist 
preacher in Atlanta — He says "Theosophy is an invention oj? 
the devil" — James Lane Allen's "Reign of Law" — A Metho- 
dist preacher — Wants all books burned that do not agree 
with the Bible — Cremation — Frances E. Willard quoted — 
Lyman Abbott on resurrection of the physical body — It rises 
in the grass and flowers — The Ten Commandments — Bor- 
rowed from the Chaldeans — They borrowed from older civ- 
ilizations — The Trinity, older than Christianity — Osiris, 
Isis and Horus in Egypt — Creator, Preserver, Destroyer 
as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva in India — Church edifices not 
religion, but instruments to promote religion — Theoso- 
phists prefer teachers to preachers — No corner stone ever 
laid by a Founder of a Faith — They were out among the 
people — Prof. Hyde of Dartmouth College quoted — The 
business of the scholar is the pursuit of truth. 
Pages 167 to 192. 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF THEOSOPHY. 

Theosophy admits all laws discovered — Asserts exist- 
ence of others — Ernest Haeckel on knowledge of the "Psy- 
che" — Law of Substance — Conservation of Matter — Con- 
servation of Energy — Conservation of Consciousness fol- 
lows — "The Riddle of the Universe" by Haeckel — "Guesses 
at the Riddle of Existence" by Prof Goldwin Smith — The 
law of effort — Unity of affinity in the whole of nature — 
Prof. Lester F. Ward — Achievement his talismanic word — 
Effort a word to denote more — The Positivism of our day — 
The race not immortal — Faraday and Goethe quoted — The 
dead to rise again must be born again — Jowett's Plato — 
Prof. Max Muller on reincarnation — The French school of 
philosophers — Materialists and Idealists — The Theosophist 
an Idealist — Prof. Du Bois of the Sheffield Scientific School 
of Yale College — The creative power of mind — Spinoza — 
Tyndalls' address at Belfast 1874 — Promise and potency of 



every form of life in matter — Monism — Herbert Spencer — 
Professor Brinton — Romanes — Helmholtz — Paulsen — Dol- 
bear — Ancient and Modern Physics — Thomas E. Willson 
late librarian New York World — Theosophical Forum — ■ 
Quotations from — The Sanscrit — India — Vedas — Evolution 
— Erroneous views held as to the "double" of man — The 
Missionary Bleek among the Bushmen — Minds disordered 
by religious excitement — Devachanic Planes — Intuition as 
direct knowledge — Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan of Bristol, Eng., 
on "Psychology and the Ego" — Theosophical Societies 
should devote renewed effort to the systematic study of 
Psychology — Churches will not instruct — Prof. Ladd of 
Yale — Theosophists do not "read science" into their sys- 
tem — They have it from the ancients — The Revival of Al- 
chemy Occult Societies in Prance — Wendell Phillips on 
"Lost Arts" — Liebnitz — The Smithsonian Institution. 
Pages 193 to 214. 

CHAPTER XII. 

CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. 

"Disciples of Blavatsky" a wrong heading in a news- 
paper — Madame Blavatsky not the founder of Theosophy — 
It was well known to the Christian Fathers — Comments on 
Blavatsky — The Countess Wachmeister her companion 
during period of trial — Her pupils judges of her deportment 
— Theosophists disciples of nobody— The New York Jour- 
nal on Immortality and Theosophists — An answer to same 
— As far back as human records go — A Sunday-school publi- 
cation on the oldest books — An answer to same — The Egyp- 
tian Book of the Dead— The Four Vedas — The Zend-Avesta 
— Chinese Cyclopaedia — Ancient Nippur — Prof. Max Mul- 
ler on oldest writings — On oldest thought — Theosophists 
of India on same lines — Gladstone on same search — The 
origin of Bible by Nehemiah — Colored by the priest Ezra — 
"Oracles of Truth" in India Sruta — Prof. Brinton quoted — 
Hymns in Public Schools — Theosophists opposed to thrones 
and kings as ideals for children — Un-American sentiment. 

Pages 215 to 232, 



x 



PREFACE. 



This book was not written for Theosophists. The aim 
of the author is to reach the "man on the street" who has 
heard just enough of Theosophy to wish to know more, and 
who is, perhaps, overcharged with the misconceptions per- 
sistently flung by belligerents. 

During the past six years the writer has voluntarily 
rendered service as Lecturer in Washington, Baltimore and 
elsewhere, and for three years as President of a Theosophi- 
cal Society at the National Capital has answered questions 
prompted from many points of view. These questions form 
the basis for the reasoning in the following pages. There 
seems to be a uniformity of experience, judging from the 
interrogators, for nearly all state — "Theosophy as you teach 
it is not as we read it in the books." The explanation of 
the variation is attempted from the author's point of view, 
and his alone. The Theosophical Society is not bound by 
it, nor need any Theosophist agree to any statement made, 
unless, as Emerson taught, it "belongs to him." 

The key to the whole effort may be discovered in the 
rebuke given by Prof. Max Muller: "Theosophy has been so 
greatly misapprehended that it was high time to restore it 
to its proper function." In this attempt to exalt the system 
of thought the irenical method is counseled, whereby it is 
sought to promote unity by magnifying the essentials and 
minimizing the non-essentials. 

These essentials, which nave been adopted by all con- 
flicting camps, are, The Perfectibility of Man; Reincarna- 
tion as the process which constantly yields an opportunity 

xi 



for further perfectibility, and Karma, the law of cause and 
effect, compelling rebirth to attain perfectibility. 

Theosophical writers are not quoted to sustain views 
presented, excepting Charles Johnston, M. R. A. S. of the 
Bengal Civil Service, Retired, and the Prize Sanscrit 
Scholar of India, and Dr. J. D. Buck, of Cincinnati, author 
of Mystic Masonry and other works. 

Disinterested witnesses from the philosophical, scien- 
tific and religious domains of thought are liberally quoted. 
This is in accord with fundamental Theosophic teaching — 
"look for similarities, not differences." 

The adoption of a new Constitution by the "Theosophi- 
cal Society in America" at Indianapolis, April 30, 1901, 
after Chapter I had gone to press renders it necessary to 
add that, hereafter, all in sympathy with any of the prin- 
ciples of the society as outlined by three planks in the plat- 
form, may be admitted to membership. Also, incorporated 
in the organic law is the acknowledgment of the laity as 
paramount in sovereignty. An Executive Committee of 
seven, elected annually, will hereafter administer the af- 
fairs of the Society. This bars future factional disputes on 
the part of so-called "leaders." It also establishes a crite- 
rion for the individual: "Take Truth for authority, not au- 
thority for truth." 

J. A. C. 

- Washington, D. C, May, 1901. 

xii 



CHAPTER I. 



THREE PLANES IN THE PLATFORM— THREE POSTU- 
LATES IN THE PHILOSOPHY. 

There are three planks in the platform of the Theo- 
sophical Society, founded at New York in 1875, 

1st. The formation of a nucleus of universal brother- 
hood without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste or color. 

2d. The study of ancient and modern religions, philos- 
ophies and sciences. 

3d. The investigation of the unexplained laws of na- 
ture and the psychic powers latent in man. 

Several organized societies now exist, all the outgrowth 
of the one movement, and all keeping intact the same plat- 
form. The differentiation was caused mainly by contending 
opinions as to government and administration. Nevertheless 
whether from the "Headquarters in India," or its "Ameri- 
can Section/' or from the "Theosophical Society in Ameri- 
ca" or any other center of affairs in Theosophical activities, 
the three planks in the platform serve to distinguish the 
school of thought in its outer expression from the tradi- 
tionalism and dogmatisms under which the members were 
nurtured. If anything can be discovered in these stated 
objects of the Theosophical Societies which could warrant 
the unjust charge that the dissemination of such teaching 
is a wanton disturbance of faith, a further reassurance is 
offered in the proclamation adopted at the Convention of 
the "Theosophical Society in America" held at Boston, 
April, 1895: 

"To all men and women of whatever caste, creed, race 

2 



or religious belief, who aim at the fostering of peace, gen- 
tleness and unselfish regard one for another, and the acqui- 
sition of such knowledge of men and nature as shall tend to 
the elevation and advancement of the human race, it sends 
most friendly greeting and freely proffers its services. 

"It joins hands with all religions and religious bodies 
whose efforts are directed to the purification of men's 
thoughts and the bettering of their ways, and it avows its 
harmony therewith. 

"To all scientific societies and individual searchers 
after wisdom on whatever plane and by whatever right- 
eous means pursued, it is and will be grateful for such dis- 
covery and unfoldment of the Truth as shall serve to an- 
nounce and confirm a scientific basis for ethics. 

And lastly, it invites to its membership those who, seek- 
ing a higher life hereafter, would learn to know the Path 
they tread in this." 

As a further evidence of the oneness in soul-movement, 
Theosophical branches the world over retain the original 
motto in spirit and letter: 

There is No Religion Higher than Truth. 
The organization, moreover, is wholly unsectarian, 
with no creed, dogma, or personal authority to enforce or 
impose; neither is it to be held responsible for the opin- 
ions of its members, who are expected to accord to the be- 
liefs of others that tolerance which they demand for their 
own; and it will be fair to the reader of the following pages 
to announce that no member of a Theosophical Society is 
bound by views expressed herein. The point of view as set 
forth by the author is that which tallies with the truth as 
he discerns it; it is not claimed that it is truth absolute. 
No better test of sincerity and fairness is known in the 
Theosophical estimate than one's willingness to submit his 
own views to a just comparison with others. This is his 
standing in court. On this he rests his case. 

Much of the confusion found in the publications of the 
day concerning Theosophy arises from the failure to dis- 
criminate between the three planks in the platform, and 



2 



the Three Postulates of the philosophy. This is how it 
comes to pass that a member of the Theosophical Society 
need not be a Theosophist; need not adopt the system of 
thought which has distinctly marked itself as Theosophy. To 
enter the. society is to give adherence to but one obligation 
— that of a conscientious belief in human brotherhood. The 
Society does not pretend to be able to establish at once a 
universal brotherhood among men, but only strives to cre- 
ate the nucleus of such a body. Hence it is that in the 
membership of the Society, in its exoteric expression, are 
found adherents of all sects and denominations of all relig- 
ions in the world. It is simply because underlying all 
faiths, is an inherent sympathy and compassion for the 
human race. 

A Theosophist per se is distinguished from a member 
of the Society, as outlined above, by his adoption of a phi- 
losophy which contains the germs (as the adherents be- 
lieve) of all the religions, philosophies and sciences known 
to man as far back as human records go, and consistent 
with the higher and growing thought of our epoch. This 
philosophy is expressed in the Secret Doctrine by Three 
Postulates: 

1st. An Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless, and Immu- 
table Principle, on which all speculation is impracticable, 
since it transcends the power of human conception, and 
could only be dwarfed by any human expression or simili- 
tude. (This fundamental idea must be grasped and fol- 
lowed through varied forms of expression, under many 
names, and no other proposition can be entertained that is 
inconsistent with it. (Secret Doctrine, p. 14 Proem.) 

2d. The eternity of the Universe in toto as a boundless 
plane, periodically the playground of numberless universes 
incessantly manifesting and disappearing, called the "mani- 
festing stars" and the "sparks of eternity." The appear- 
ance and disapeparance of worlds is like a regular tidal 
ebb and flow, of flux and reflux. Herein is postulated the 

3 



law of cycles, alike applicable to atoms or suns, to individ- 
ual man, or to solar systems. (Secret Doctrine, p. 14 
Proem) . 

3d. The fundamental identity of all souls with the 
Universal Oversoul, the latter being an aspect of the Un- 
caused Cause, and the obligatory pilgrimage of every soul 
through the cycle of incarnation from the lowest plane of 
consciousness to the highest. (Secret Doctrine, p. 14 
Proem) . 

As Emerson expressed it, in conformity with the Third 
Postulate: 

"And, striving to be man, the worm 
Mounts through all the spires of form." 

And this again supplements the old saying in the ar- 
cane records of the East, as found in the Stanzas of the 
Book of Dyzan, an esoteric work formerly allowed only to 
the eyes of the initiated: 

"Every entity in the universe, is, was, or prepares to 
become a man." 

This esoteric teaching corresponding to the tenets of 
the ancient religions, sciences and philosophies proves that 
the doctrine of Evolution is older by thousands of years 
than Lamarck and Darwin. The ancient seers left it of rec- 
ord in this old esoteric book: 

"The spark hangs from the flame by the finest thread 
of Fohat (energy). It stops in the first world of Maya 
(Change and Illusion), and is a metal and a stone; it pass- 
es into the second, and behold a plant; the plant whirls 
through seven changes and becomes an animal. From the 
combined attributes of these, Manu (man) the thinker is 
formed." 

Emerson, a profound student in the ancient lore of 
Nature's finer forces, discovered for our modern thought, 
years before Darwin's "Origin of the Species" appeare-1, 
the law which expresses the supreme effort to evolve con- 
scious life out of so-called inert material. The following 

4 



extract attests his belief which is that of the scientific anrl 
philosophical Theosophist: 

The fossil strata show us that Nature began with rud- 
imental forms, and rose to the more complex as fast as the 
earth was fit for their dwelling-place; and that the lower 
perish as the higher appear. Very few of our race can be 
said to be yet finished men. We still carry sticking to us 
some remains of the preceding inferior quadruped organ- 
ization. . . . The age of the quadruped is to go out, — 
the age of the brain and of the heart is to come in. And if 
one shall read the future of the race hinted in the organic 
effort of Nature to mount and meliorate, and the corre- 
sponding impulse to the Better in the human being, we 
shall dare affirm that there is nothing he will not overcome 
and convert, until at last culture shall absorb the chaos and 
gehenna. He will convert the Furies into Muses and the 
hells into benefit. — Culture. 

Thus, everything in Theosophic thought points toward 
man. The very basic principle underlying the three planks 
in the platform, and the three postulates of the philosophy 
involves Man — the Perfectibility of Man. How? By due 
course of evolution. Can one life afford the opportunity to 
"mount and meliorate? The Theosophist reasons consist- 
ently, as he believes, that it will require many lives in suc- 
cession before perfection is attained. These repeated in- 
carnations are compelled by the law of Karma, which 
means action and reaction, cause and effect. The law of 
Karma is the broadest generalization known in the thought 
of the school. 

So, the Perfectibility of Man, brought about through 
Reincarnation, which is compelled by Karma, gives the 
scope of Eastern philosophy and science a claim for a dis- 
interested hearing. But the reader may ask — "Where does 
Religion obtain a status by such a formula?" The answer 
is, again — in the Perfectibility of Man! Religion, as de- 
fined by the teachings of the sages, is — "devotion to the 

5 



highest goodness known to man." This devotiQn brings 
perfectibility. "What will you do with man's soul?" the 
inquirer insists. The answer is always ready in the teach- 
ings of the seers — ''Man has no soul; that would make the 
possessor and the possession a duality; man is a soul — that 
makes him a unity, an individuality. It is the soul that has 
a body, a covering; not the body possessing a soul as a prop- 
erty of matter. Imagine a student of the wisdom of the 
ages accepting the soul as a manufacture out of nothing at 
birth, a mere function or property of matter, instead of a 
growth by development! 

This point of view may startle the reader who still 
clings to the incredible traditions and discredited apologet- 
ics of a faith nurtured in the darkest centuries of the Chris- 
tian era, but it seems by the law of evolution, and the con- 
ception of a rational order in the universe that one must 
change one's point of view at every milestone reached on 
the upward ascent. As Lyman Abbott in behalf of the lib- 
eral Christians who hear him gladly, expresses it: 

"Both within and without the church we are passing 
through a great transition of belief. It is not merely a 
change in the phrasing of creeds; there is a radical change 
in the substantial point of view. This change in point of 
view does not involve any overthrow of Christian faith. 
Rightly understood, it involves a widening, and should in- 
volve a deepening, of religious faith." 

While the liberal thinker is acting upon the suggestion 
of Dr. Abbott, it might occur as seemly to quote one of the 
ablest scholars of the world in our day, who has just "passed 
over," to use the terminology of Theosophy, — Prof. Max 
Muller, who, in commenting on Origen, one of the Christian 
Fathers, anathematized because of his theosophic teach- 
ings, says, in his Gifford lectures. 

"What I wish to make quite clear to you 
is, that there is in Christianity more theosophy 
than in any other religion, if we use that word in 
its right meaning, as comprehending whatever of wisdom 

6 



has been vouchsafed to man touching things divine. . . . 
Nor shall we ever appreciate at its full value the theosophic 
wealth of the Christian religion, quite apart from its other 
excellences, till we have weighed it against the other relig- 
ions of the world." 

And, finally, as the best definition yet available for the 
teacher of theosophy, that given by Max Muller is quoted, 
not only because of his great ability to pronounce judg- 
ment by contrast and comparison, but mainly for the rea- 
son that he was not a member of the Theosophical Society 
and not at all friendly to some of the so-called leaders of 
the cult: 

"I ought, perhaps, to explain why, to the title original- 
ly chosen for this my final course of Gifford Lectures, J 
have added that of Theosophy. It seems to me that this 
venerable name so well known among early Christian 
thinkers as expressing the highest knowledge of God with- 
in the reach of the human mind has been so greatly misap- 
prehended that it was high time to restore it to its "proper 
function. It should be known once for all that one may 
call one's self a theosophist without being suspected of be- 
lieving in spirit rappings, table turnings, or any other black 
arts." 

If the name is entitled to the adjective "venerable" by 
such a careful philologist, it becomes the searcher for truth 
to attempt an exploration into the archaeology of Theoso- 
phy. If the name was "so well known among early Chris- 
tian thinkers," it behooves the scholarship of the day to as- 
certain how they got it. If Theosophy in their minds did 
"express the highest knowledge of God within the reach of 
the human mind" it stands for duty that this "highest 
knowledge" be recovered. If Theosophists themselves, have 
"so greatly misapprehended" this ancient system of thought 
as to justify the rebuke given, it remains a duty doubly im- 
pressive that it be "restored to its proper function." 

The author, from his point of view, after several years 
of diligent study, is free to state that Theosophy has re- 
ceived more injury by misrepresentation and wrong inter- 



7 



pretation from some of its own membership than was pos- 
sible for the antagonistic schools to inflict. Vapid mysti- 
cism from certain sects in the East has crept in, and so- 
called Occult Arts (ceremonial magic) has been copied and 
these added to the vagaries of certain trance mediums of 
the female sex, have wrought havoc in the ranks. Like the 
warring creeds and dogmas of Christianity, the non-essen- 
tials have taken precedence in certain schools labeled The- 
osophy. 

Yet with all the mishaps which have overtaken special 
camps of study, the essentials have not been wrecked by 
the inordinate personal ambition of leadership. Despite 
the breaking of the movement into sectarian channels, 
these essentials — "Perfectibility of Man," "Karma," "Rein- 
carnation" and the hope of a Universal Brotherhood, all re- 
main in the teachings of each of the factions. The text 
books of each are interchangeable, and the periodicals of 
all are read with interest. This is clearly an advance, and 
an improvement on the narrowness of the Orthodox de- 
nominations. Church members as a rule have not been de- 
tected in the act of swapping their denominational organs. 
An illustration of this bigotry is here cited. A Baptist con- 
gregation in a large city, a few years ago appropriated a 
sum of money for the purchase of a library. The pastor 
was named as chairman of a committee of three to select 
the books, and with him were afterward associated two res- 
idents familiar with the current literature of the day, one 
being an editor. Competing publishing houses forwarded 
assorted consignments granting privilege of return of such 
as were not chosen. The eulling began under the immedi- 
ate supervision of the preacher, a young man fresh from 
his theological studies. His order was peremptory that no 
book should be allowed a place on the shelves which con- 
tained in any manner a reference or allusion to any form of 
baptism other than immersion. When appealed to by the 
editor that the ruling would shut out many exemplary vol- 



umes, the answer was emphatic: "Dangerous doctrine shall 
be allowed no shelf room here!" 

Such an incident would be impossible in a Theosophi- 
cal organization for the reason that the second plank in the 
platform insists upon a study of all religions, all rites, all 
ceremonies. And in studying the archaeology of baptism, 
the Theosophist finds that immersion was a religious rite in 
the Ancient Mysteries, 6000 B. C, and accompanied with 
more elaborate ceremony than now practiced by the Bap- 
tists as a sect. This pagan rite which had a wholesome 
meaning of old, now serves to keep the warring christened 
clubs of Christendom in their respective water-tight com- 
partments, and more impressively strange is it to the arch- 
aeological searcher for truth, to find that on this point, the 
Christian Fathers, and founders of opinions by apologet- 
ics, in the early centuries of our era, were in nowise se- 
riously affected by the question. In the instance cited, 
however, it served to keep the well-meaning members of 
that Baptist congregation from reading the excellent lit- 
erature of the kindred evangelical churches, due to the 
action of one man, who was preacher rather than teacher. 

A further study by the comparative method, in the 
spirit of the second plank as referred to, convinces the The- 
osophical student that there is good in all religions; that 
no one faith has a monopoly of the truth; that he who 
knows but one religion, and that his own, knows none; 
that the Bible, which is proclaimed from pulpits as the one 
only book, is among teachers of men many books; that the 
real Bible of the world will "never be completed until the 
last great man is dead," as Emerson expresses it; that 
revelation was not shut off with St. John; that man was 
created divine, not depraved; that man saves himself by his 
own individual effort without mediation of priest or preach- 
er (though their services as guides and teachers are not 
to be ignored) ; that science is not profane, but as sacred 
as any knowledge attainable by man for his perfection; 

9 



that the only God man can know with positive knowledge 
is the Divinity within him; that man makes his own heav- 
en; makes his own hell; that "there is no limit to the 
knowing of the Self that knows" as the Sanscrit has it; 
that all great teachers have endeavored to lead man to this 
""knowing" whether on scientific, philosophical or religious 
lines; and that duty calls as of old by the stern command — 
^Man Know Thyself." 

All this, in the mind of the oracle of any christened 
club will be branded "dangerous doctrine" and heresy, but 
the minds of intelligent men are devoutly and reverently 
accepting such teachings, under the impetus given by the 
Theosophical Societies, aided heroically by liberal Christian 
teachers, and men of light and leading in other climes, 
under other faiths, from other points of view. 

Yet another instance by way of contrast and compari- 
son. The Sunday School Times, three years ago devoted 
some space to a contribution evidently from the pen of a 
preacher as indicated by the technical theological terms 
used, the aim of which was to combat the tendency of 
thought on Theosophical lines. The opening paragraph 
reads: 

"Self-knowledge is the poorest kind of ignorance. A 
man who studies himself thinks that he knows himself." 

Is it any wonder that thinking, serious, sincere and 
refined people leave orthodox churches and seek instruction 
elsewhere? The Theosophical Society gains recruits by 
such arrant nonsense. But the concluding clause is fully 
as irrational: 

"Look outward, not inward, is a thousand times better 
as a guide of conduct than the old pagan maxim, 'Know thy- 
self.' " 

Shades of Solon! chief of the seven sages of Greece, 
whose Solomonic motto was, Know thyself! (Proverbs 
xiv., 8.) All the inspiring literature of the ages touching 
the inner light is here blown outward and the still small 

10 



voice is hushed. It is just such fanatical and bigoted zeal- 
otry which has invested the fair ethics of a once pure 
Christianity as rendered in the earlier Greek interpreta- 
tions with a theological garment of as many colors as Jo- 
seph's coat, and in the last analysis has resolved sanctified 
hatred into an unnecessary war of words rather than into 
an actual contest of principles. The Theosophist seeks by 
candid and critical study to recall to the consciousness of 
the age as frequently as available the enduring injunction 
— "Man, Know Thyself." 

11 



CHAPTER II. 



IS THERE ATHEISM OR AGNOSTICISM IN THE FIRST 
POSTULATE OF THE S OPHY f 

Of misconception of the work of the Theosophical 
Movement there will be no end so long as certain narrow 
minds entertain the bigoted views set forth by those who 
show in their very assertions an unfortunate lack of ac- 
quaintance with the essentials of the body of teachings, la- 
beled Theosophy. 

The first prevailing erroneous idea is that Theosophy 
is but another milder phase of atheism or agnosticism, be- 
cause it sets some religious value on the "Unknow- 
able" as defined in the first postulate of the 
philosophy, wherein, expressing the idea of the 
First Cause, it is stated, as a "Principle, on which 
all speculation is impracticable, since it transcends 
the power of human conception and could only be 
dwarfed by any human expression or similitude." If the 
charge filed is well-founded, a plea can be entered in de- 
fense that the Theosophist has, at least, been consistent in 
conforming to the definition rendered by Prof. Max Muller, 
— "Expressing the highest knowledge of God to which the 
human mind can reach." This very definition implies that 
by effort man may reach higher than the now highest, in 
time, and at our present stage of evolution it is found by 
research that the Theosophist is in quite good company, 
for the scholarship of the world in all ages has agreed that 
the First Cause is infinite and eternal, and that the finite 
can neither apprehend nor comprehend the Infinite, 

12 



But the Theosophist can sustain and maintain an "idea" 
of God; though to describe the content of this idea would 
lead to almost infinite variation, for it is found in all his- 
tory that according to their ideal of God such has been the 
character of the people, and the same is true of each indi- 
vidual. Prof. John Fiske's idea at one time when under the 
suffocating effects of dogmatic teaching was that of a judge 
on the bench, with a scribe just in rear who was jotting 
down every act, good or bad committed by every person on 
earth. But his view under self-development has changed, 
for he sees in the "dramatic tendency of the universe a 
multiform manifestation of the infinite power." Neverthe- 
less, although Fiske has completely renounced an anthro- 
pomorphic God, he seems to retain a conception of psy- 
chical attributes for his Divinity. The Theoeophist will not 
quarrel with Prof. Fiske if the psychical attributes will be 
allowed to remain as manifestations on the psychic plane, 
and there only; in so far as these attributes thus psychical- 
ly displayed are good, they must be divine, but they are 
secondary rather than first in cause, according to the Sages. 

Prof. Huxley may not be accepted by the average read- 
er as a profoundly religious man in the ordinary sense, but 
by the author of these pages he is regarded as an exponent 
of the highest thought of his day, and Theosophy must 
stand for the highest thought in each realm, whether scien- 
tific, philosophic or religious, and all must agree if Theos- 
ophy is to be moored to safe anchorage. Dr. Huxley wrote 
on the Unknowable: 

"Of all the senseless babble I have ever had occasion 
to read, the demonstrations of those philosophers who un- 
dertake to tell us all about the nature of God would be the 
worst, if they were not surpassed by the still greater ab- 
surdities of the philosophers who try to prove that there 
is no God." And again, "A dogmatic atheist is a nuisance/' 

Nevertheless Dr. Huxley claimed to be an agnostic be- 
cause, he added for qualification, this positive asertion: 

"Agnosticism is of the essence of science whether an- 
13 



cient or modern. It means that man shall not say that he 
knows or believes that which he has no scientific ground 
for professing to know or believe." 

"And the knowledge which goes 'beyond knowledge' is 
something which my cognitive faculties do not enable me 
to apprehend." 

The diligent student of Theosophy who endeavors to 
keep pace with the highest thought of the day, especially in 
the domain of Psychology, will observe that the great sci- 
entist has measured his words. His belief rests on his 
"cognitive faculties." This is the limit of inspiration in 
the evolution of mind following the formula of the process 
outlined by Prof. Ladd, who occupies the chair of Psychol- 
ogy in Yale University. "The cognitive faculty — the ac- 
quisitive or perceptive power — is the first and fundamental 
power of intellect. It includes (1) sense perception (2) 
consciousness and (3) intuition proper." 

Hunt's Poetry of Science is allowed on the shelves of 
cultured people in the Christian faith, and it states: 

"Of the phenomena of causes as far as they are reveal- 
ed by Science in its search, it will be shown that beneath 
the beautiful vesture of the external world there exists, like 
its quickening soul, a pervading power, assuming the most 
varied aspects, giving the whole its life and loveliness, and 
linking every portion of this material mass in a common 
bond with some great universal principle beyond our 
knowledge." 

The greatest synthetic philosopher of our age — Herbert 
Spencer, concludes that "our only course is to recognize 
our symbols ('mind' and 'matter') as symbols only of some 
form of power absolutely and forever unknown to us." The 
Theosophist is not prepared to accept such pessimistic 
words as "absolutely and forever," for his cognition leads 
him to believe that when the Perfectibility of Man is reach- 
ed, after long stretches of time ahead, he will arrive at a 
state of omniscience. However, Spencer aligns with the 
ancient postulate when he states that we are "ever in the 



14 



presence of an Infinite and Eternal Energy from which all 
things proceed" and that it is this same Power which "in 
ourselves wells up under the form of consciousness." This, 
for scientific reasoning is drawing remarkably close to the 
touch of Theosophic thought as handed down by the sages, 
which makes that power within ourselves as divine as its 
source. 

Scientific method in the department of philology is at- 
tracting attention to the demand for a more correct trans- 
lation of the expression — "I and my Father are one." In 
the oriental consciousness the religious teacher of whatever 
sect or tongue, whether Narada of India, Appolonius of Ty- 
ana, or Jesus of Nazareth, would have sought to convey the 
idea that "I and my Parent-Source are one"; or "I 
and my eternal source are one' ; or "I and my Infi- 
nite Source are one," or "I and my Higher Self are one." 
Parent-Source includes the Motherhood of God as well as 
the Fatherhood; the eternal feminine as well as the eternal 
masculine; but it only includes. The highest thought of 
that day was not masculine, nor feminine: "I am That; 
that too art Thou" was then clearly understood in the eso- 
teric teachings which had existed from time immemorial, 
and this teaching was woven into the thread and thrum 
of the texture of that ancient system of thought defined by 
Max Muller as the "venerable name so well known among 
early Christian thinkers" — Theosophy. 

Theosophy denies the anthropomorphic god of the dog- 
matists, the personal god of the theologians, but this does 
not suffice to rank Theosophists as atheists or agnostics. 
Epicurus centuries before Christ said: 

"That man is not an atheist who denies the gods of the 
multitude but much rather, he who subscribes to the opin- 
ions of the multitude concerning the gods." 

Dr. Paul Carus in his excellent treatise on "The Idea of 
God" says: 

"if we could make of the innumerable God-ideas in the 
15 



minds of men a composite photograph, such as Galton made 
of certain classes of faces, we should find in all of them 
one feature most prominently present: God is to everybody 
who believes in a God the ultimate authority in conformity 
to which he regulates his conduct." 

The same author in another paragraph when summing 
up his own conception adds: 

"This view of God is more than an idea. It 
is an ideal. An ideal is an idea that is an aim for our 
aspiration. An ideal is a living idea, i. e., an idea which 
can constantly be more and more realized and always ad- 
mits of still greater perfection." 

The Theosophist's point of view must be similar, for he 
is forever aiming toward the Perfect Man and the continu- 
ance of the effort "always admits of still greater perfec- 
tion." Therefore, whether this "Unknowable" be qualified 
in terms, as the Eternal, the Absolute, the Self-Existent, the 
Most High, the Only Pure, the Higher Self, or any equiva- 
lent of the divine working in the universe, the Theosophist 
w r ill fall in line with the expounder of any such system, and 
this Theosophic method has sufficed for men of the highest 
mind and the most pious imagination, such as Giordano 
Bruno, Spinoza, Kant, Goethe, Shelley, Wordsworth, Car- 
lyle, Emerson, Channing, Martineau, and the liberal Chris- 
tian teachers of the higher planes of thought, as well as of 
the six systems of Philosophy in India. The seers of all 
nations gave out such concepts. And the opening words of 
the sermon of Buddha on his return to his father's palace 
made doubly immortal in verse by Sir Edwin Arnold in his 
"Light of Asia," gives emphasis to this basic principle in 
Theosophic teaching: 

"O Amiteya! measure not with words 

The immeasurable; nor sink the string of thought 

Into the fathomless. Who asks doth err, 

Who answers, errs. Say nought! 

Shall any gazer see with mortal eyes, 
Or any searcher know by mortal mind, 



16 



Veil after veil will lift — but there must be 
Veil upon veil behind." 

The search for truth by the Theosophist is rewarded 
constantly by the lifting of the veil, and the true meaning 
of Isis Unveiled is deeper than the bigoted sectarian can 
fathom. And at every step gained in lifting veil after veil, 
there is recognized as denned by Matthew Arnold "the pow- 
er, not ourselves, that makes for righteousness. ,, "The Su- 
preme Reality which is concealed behind the changing 
course of phenomena" will serve equally as well as a sym- 
bol, for after all, it will depend on the mental angle, or 
point of view under which the disciple of any great teach- 
er contemplates Nature, or the manifestations of the Uni- 
verse. 

If man with his capacities and aspirations proceeds 
from the Great All as a source, man must include the germ 
of all possible development. This is the Divinity within so 
tenaciously adhered to by the Theosophist. This aspiration 
of the germ need not at all conflict with the Unknowable as 
the foundation of a system of pious reverence even if it is 
reduced to the cold expression of the scientific think- 
er in the formula and symbol of x to the nth 
power. But will the less-favored mortal who does not 
and cannot follow the subtleties of advanced thought derive 
any comfort from such abstruse conclusions? The Theoso- 
phist alleges that he can, for the reason that man carries 
within him an ideal of perfection which enables him to 
construct independently within his own soul the true re- 
ligion, which is the negation of all materialistic or dogmat- 
ic faiths, and is itself nothing less than the liberty or pur- 
ity of the mind and soul. In short, it is the God within, 
that Light which "lighteth every man which cometh into 
the world." But it is also as strenuously enjoined by the 
teaching of the inner consciousness that every soul must 
work out its own salvation. The pivotal doctrine of Theos- 

3 17 



ophic teaching admits no privileges, no special gifts in man 
save those won by his own Ego, his own self, through per- 
sistent effort through a long line of reincarnations; the 
long pilgrimage toward that which is now the Unknowable, 
for we see now in part only, but then face to face. 

Prof. Ladd in "The Philosophy of Knowledge" sounds 
an assuring note to the less cultured mortal who might 
otherwise dread the arduous struggle in the pursuit of the 
higher life which is an essential in Theosophy. 

"The plain man's consciousness, in his simple work-day 
transactions with things and observations of himself cannot 
set itself up as the measure of all the truths of science and 
philosophy. But it has in it the everlasting truth of the 
Ego's self-active life; and it enables its possessor to make 
his own the ancient mystic saying of India — "That too art 
thou." The feeling of the unity in difference of the self and 
also its oneness with the world are present as the abiding 
truth of all such knowledge. The germs of insight into the 
inner nature of things lie waiting recognition and develop- 
ment in every human mind; every man is a metaphysician 
and a philosopher; he who can say homo sum is forced to 
confess both an interest in this inner nature and an unde- 
veloped potency of insight. Nor is the insight something 
far away from him — 'over seas' or 'up aloft.' It is rather, 
if he will hear it, a word near him, and ready to be put in 
his own mouth." 

This is clearly the teaching of the sages of old which 
the Theosophist sanctions, and establishes that religion is 
to each individual according to the inward light with which 
he is endowed. 

And this endowment is an emanation, a ray, from the 
Great All, an activity of the Great Breath which forever 
moves through the dense infinitudes of a universe, or count- 
less universes for ought we know, for we cannot measure 
with our thought the Unknowable. It is simply sufficient 
for the Theosophist to have and to hold the essential truth 
that was taught by the Vedic Rishis, the Achi-u of Egypt, 
the Wise Men of the East under whatever appellation; in 
the Vedanta, by Kapila, by Buddha, by Plato, by Jesus, by 

18 



Emerson, by all sages and seers and men of light and learn- 
ing everywhere — the Manifestation of the First cause in us. 
Again, it is proclaimed from this point of view that the only 
God man can know is the Divinity within. 

Again, it will be asked what signification is to be 
granted to the incident narrated in Scripture where Paul 
declares to the men of Athens, not the Unknown God to 
which their altars and monuments attested. The Theoso- 
phist's answer is that the highest thought of our age has 
devoted reverent study to the original text, and it proves 
that our popularly accepted translation needs scholarly re- 
vision and more accurate interpretation. Indeed, able pa- 
pers from the most profound critics are easily available, 
and over all must be taken into account the psycAic state of 
consciousness in which Paul functioned after his defective 
external sight was exchanged for a clearer insight, revealed 
to him by a process that need not in this scientific age be 
set down as supernatural or miraculous. Such sudden 
changes have appeared in all ages; the Eastern psychologists 
are familiar with episodes in their own literature where 
revelation as with a lightning-flash at midnight causes the 
subject to see the world and all things therein in an en- 
tirely new aspect. 

Paul, who declared that he could be all things to all 
men was simply doing that which all great teachers have 
done, not giving new truths, (for truth is old and always 
was truth,) but to call men back — back to the reality from 
which they had wandered, as sheep gone astray. The men 
of Athens on Mars Hill easily must have understood him as 
he told them that which they already knew; that their Un- 
known God had made the world and all things therein ; who 
dwelt not in temples made with hands; who needed noth- 
ing, seeing he was the giver of life, breath, and all things; 
who had made of one blood all nations of men. Paul further 
declared that they should seek him if haply they might 
feel after him and find him, though he was constantly at 

19 



hand, and the one in whom they lived and moved and had 
their being. 

Notwithstanding the clearness of Paul's teaching when 
properly interpreted, which any Theosophist will sanction, 
he shows no very emphatic condemnation of the so-called 
agnosticism of the assembled Athenians, for he adds that 
God has "winked at' or overlooked it. The understanding 
of the Theosophist is reenforced by the scientific method of 
reasoning on the facts. When a sensational evangelist 
preaches in Washington, we fail to find any rush of the 
scientists of the capital, the professors of the schools, or 
the plodding students in the lore of the day to hear him; 
neither do we believe, as Theosophists, that the cream of 
Athenian culture was present at the street preaching of the 
eloquent advocate of his freshly found faith. The Unknown 
God of the culture of Athens is described in the highest 
thought of that day in much the same terminology as is 
now used by our ablest exponents in progressive culture. 

When Paul is quoted to the Theosophist let all of Paul 
be quoted and filed with the pleadings in the case; not 
proof-texts culled, or isolated incidents, nor special plead- 
ing. The Theosophist seeks to answer the general issue on 
the merits of the case. Paul had studied at the feet of Ga- 
maliel; had retired to the desert to prepare for his minis- 
try. Why do not preachers attempt to unearth the curricu- 
lum of that "desert" school? The Theosophist has investi- 
gated on archaeological lines and has found to his satisfac- 
tion that Paul was graduated as a teacher in esoteric lore. 
The Sufis, a school of educated Arabian esotericists (and 
many are professors in Mohammedan colleges to this day), 
can teach the graduates of Princeton or Andover a few 
things in Paul's history well worth considering. Therefore, 
when the theologian quotes Paul, let it be understood by the 
Theosophist, at least, that all of Paul is meant, his fallibil- 
ity and proneness to err, (being human,) as well as his en- 
lightened insight. In the light of psychology, he is an in- 

20 



teresting study. Whether he believed the world was to 
come to an end during the life of men then listening to him, 
and that the Nazarene was to descend in glory to rule, he 
certainly preached it. But it is hardly possible that the 
translation is correct wherein, by his answer to doubters he 
involves the false analogy of the seed, which germinates, 
i. e., continues to a new life, when the translation makes 
Paul declare that it dies. On this point alone, the value of 
Theosophic study surpasses that of the metal-riveted theo- 
logian. The Theosophist declares that Paul is not rightly 
interpreted. Graduating from his course of study in the 
desert he went forth with views of the Cosmos and process- 
es in nature which clearly indicate a thorough knowledge 
of the Secret Doctrine taught in said esoteric school. He 
knew, as he must have known as a student of such teaching, 
that even the formless void held the atoms of coming plan- 
ets and moons and the essences from which their inhabi- 
tants were to be compounded. These seeds of humanity 
were awaiting their time to sprout and spring up and grow 
into the beauty of the image of their Infinite Source, now 
seen through a glass darkly. And he was taught by the 
Masters of Wisdom that forms and types persist through all 
vicissitudes, for these things come and go and come again 
by the force which proceeds from the Infinite, Unknown en- 
ergy. "With the outgoing Breath, forms appear; with the 
indrawing Breath, forms disappear," was an axiom of the 
school in which Paul studied, had been the teaching of ail 
the W T isdom Religions of antiquity and is to-day accepted 
by Theosophists as well as by scientists, although they ex- 
press it in their own terminology. In the clearer light 
which is breaking from the beacon posts of the higher 
criticism, Paul will be more intelligently understood, but 
with the greater illumination which the science of Psychol- 
ogy is diffusing, Paul's personality can be separated from 
his individuality, and the gist of his teaching apprehended 
by a more scientific survey. 

21 



CHAPTER III. 



INDIVIDUALITY AND PERSONALITY. 

If the proper study of mankind is man, (and Theoso- 
phists lay great stress upon such study,) it ought to be 
made plain at the outset why the first general classification 
— that of Individuality and Personality — is so strenuously 
insisted upon. The materialistic scientists have been giv- 
ing the past generation their conclusions touching the ex- 
ternal form of man, how that form may be comfortably fed, 
housed and lodged, but knowledge of the real man is ig- 
nored, his needs neglected, and a few of the so-called "great 
lights of science" deny that he exists. 

Happily, a new Psychology is overthrowing the hasty 
enunciations of the past forty years, and former students of 
the Vogt and Buchner schools are entertaining conceptions 
more in accord with the Chairs of Psychology in our lead- 
ing institutions of learning, and not a little satisfaction is 
felt by the students of the Wisdom Religions of Antiquity 
in the fact, that the more searching the investigation by ob- 
servation and experiment, supplemented, of course, by in- 
duction, and deduction as well, the more clear seems the ap- 
proach to the psychology of the ancients, who were the 
greatest nature students the world has produced. 

What is the personality? Let us begin with the origin 
of the word and trace its development. If, as Professor 
Max Muller asserts, every word is a palace of thought, a 
better understanding can be gained by an examination of 
the apartment which contains both original roots and sub- 
sequent accretions, whether fungus, or normal growth. The 

22 



same eminent philologist states that there are but eight 
hundred material or predicative roots for all the words we 
find in our cumbersome dictionaries, and that these are de- 
rived from but one hundred and twenty concepts all told, 
which "are the rivers that feed the whole ocean of thought 
and speech." Can we trace the conception of either the per- 
sonality or the individuality to original concepts? If we 
fail, we shall not surely be at a loss for the equivalent of 
both in the conception of man, for man, as a concept must 
be included with the others, of which the same great au- 
thority on the Science of Language and the Science of 
Thought, states: 

"That there is no thought that passes through our 
mind, or that has passed through the minds of the greatest 
poets and prophets of old, that cannot directly or indirect- 
ly be derived from one of these fundamental concepts." 

Then, to answer the question — What is the personality 
of man? it is sufficient to say with competent authority to 
sustain the statement, that the personality of man is his 
mask. Seek the definition. Webster gives person, as de- 
rived from persona, a mask (used by actors), from person- 
are, to sound through. The word is compounded of per, (by 
or through,) and sonare,(to sound). So a person is a mask 
by or through which some force or energy is sounding. 
This something, which is striving to manifest itself out in 
the open, or to express itself, is the individual. This is how 
it comes to pass that descending to us from archaic 
thought, the line of demarcation, or distinction, has been 
kept pronounced in all philosophical thought. 

"Individual" is defined by the Standard Dictionary, as 

"not capable of being divided without losing identity; 
existing continuously as an entity; single. Philos. The 
logical doctrine that individual things are the only real ex- 
istences. The doctrine that only the individual ego with its 
changes and states exist." 

Here we have the basis for an explanation. The indi- 
vidual, or ego, which is the "I am I" of Theosophy, cannot 

23 



be divided and it is that which is acting back of the mask., 
using the body as per,, by or through, and sonare, to sound. 

And, again, all philologists further enlighten us with 
the broader definition, that the word person came finally to 
mean the wearer of the mask, so that the actor who was 
wearing the part for effect, was himself acting a part for 
effect, hence, the word "part" nearly always accompanies 
the word person in the vocabularies. And so reasoned 
Southey: 

"How different is the same man from himself as he 
sustains the person of a magistrate and that of a friend." 

And Jeremy Taylor emphasizes this conception: 

"No man can long put on a person and act a part." 

Back in the original languages where the accretions 
from inflowing dialects have not compounded and re-com- 
pounded in words, the nature student, whether an intuitive 
American Indian, or a Sanscrit pundit, would seek to con- 
vey the impression "my body is cold," not "I am cold," for 
"I," and the body, the personality, the mask, are concep- 
tions apart. Eastern psychology has held persistently to 
this distinction. The thinkers of the West are coming to it, 
though hampered with the fungus growth of theological 
reasoning which has inflicted upon an unsuspecting follow- 
ing the idea of a personal god, in other words, a big sound- 
ing board, a vesture, or mask. They mean, however, a big 
man. but person is not the man in accurate thought. 

The masks, whether of nature in any domain, or per- 
taining to man, are ever-changing bodies. Each new per- 
sonality is not better, relatively than a fresh suit of clothes, 
with specific characteristics of color, form and quality, but 
the real man, the individuality, the entity that never 
changes, that has a continuous existence, who wears these 
clothes, has, according to our reasoning thrown aside many 
a natural covering in its long pilgrimage through space and 
time, through a long series of incarnations. Looked at in 
its physiological aspect, the personality is a shifting gar- 

24 



ment never two seconds the same, for we are scientifically 
told that the blood makes a circuit of the entire body dur- 
ing two minutes, carrying with it Nature's finer forces, thus 
making and remaking a new personality. The average man 
takes five and a half pounds of food and drink each day, 
amounting to one ton of solid and liquid nourishment an- 
nually. In seventy years he eats and drinks one thousana 
times his own weight to maintain and sustain an external 
mask or personality that the something which is behind it, 
that which persists continuously may sound through, or 
manifest. The "I am I" remains; the Ego is always on 
guard. Nevertheless, no less a theologian than the renowned 
Francis Wayland in his University Sermons, warped by the 
dogmatic influences of a system of anthropomorphic inheri- 
tance from medieval teaching leaves this for young preach- 
ers in this scientific age to assimilate: 

"We conceive of the Deity as an actual existence, an in- 
finite being, whom, by the analogy of language we term 
person.'' 

In other words, in common with too many of the dog- 
matic men of "the cloth'' who have not acquired the scien- 
tific method of reasoning, the individuality, that stubborn 
persistence throughout all nature, is ignored, and "person" 
the most shifting thing known, composed of ever-changing 
mobile atoms is used as a type to give an idea of God. On 
this reasoning the clothes make the man. The overcoat of 
nature, i. e. its vesture, in its physical manifestation, the 
great sounding-board can serve as the orthodox idea of a 
personal God. 

Professor Max Muller who has translated the Sacred 
books of the East, had investigated the inner meaning of all 
religions by the comparative method, endeavored to edu- 
cate the thinking world on this point. The following ex- 
tract attests his insight by the scientific precision gained by 
more than a half century of diligent study: 

"We are told that what distinguishes us from all other 
25 



living beings is that we are personal beings. We are per- 
sons, responsible persons, and our very being, our life and 
immortality, are represented as depending on our personal- 
ity. But if we ask what this personlity means, and why we 
are called personae, the answers are very ambiguous. Does 
our personality consist in our being English or German, in 
our being old or young, male or female, wise or foolish? 
And if not, what remains when all these distinctions van- 
ish? Is there a higher Ego, of which our human ego is but 
the shadow? From most philosophers we get but uncertain 
and evasive answers to these questions, and perhaps here, 
in the darkest passages of psychological and metaphysical 
inquiry a true knowledge of language may prove our best 
guide." 

It is to the true knowledge of language that the Theoso- 
phist will wish to be guided, and those who think for them- 
selves are rapidly arriving at the conclusion which forced 
itself upon the consciousness of Max Muller who declared 
that he was a believer in the atman, or soul-in-itself, the 
monad soul; he believed in a "thinker of thoughts" a "doer 
of deeds," a Self within the person, and he further declared 
that he may have been the reincarnation of an ancient 
Hindu. 

This perceiving inner self, as the Theosophists believe, 
is the carrier of the personality or mask; the counter-part 
in idea, though the same in essence is the carrier of all, the 
Higher Self, which is Divinity, or Deity, or God, in that as- 
pect, and therefrom arises the saying of the ancient religion 
— "I am That; That too art Thou"; and from this well 
known teaching, the Christian Fathers easily understood, 
as the better scholarship of the future must, the true inter- 
pretation of the expression, "I and my Divine Source are 
one." 

But there is much to learn before a full grasp of the 
above can be attained. Man in the generic sense is not 
strictly the same as deity. A divine principle, rather, man- 
ifests itself in man. The conscious Ego, which distinguish- 
es man from the animal is the Fifth Principle — Manas, the 

26 



vehicle of the divine Monad or "God." This compels us to 
seek the origin of the word "Man," not homo," or "vir," or 
any other term incorporated from languages subsequent to 
the old Sanscrit. 

Man is derived from Manas, a Sanscrit word, meaning 
to think. Therefore, man, in the strictest sense of the term, 
is the Thinker. This Thinker is the Individuality, that 
which stubbornly persists. It is the self-conscious part of 
man; that which distinguishes him from the animal. But, 
as man has animal in him as well, the thought of the East- 
ern scholars saw fit for classification, to denote man as a 
septennary being, giving clear definitions and meanings to 
each of these seven Principles. 

1. The Physical body, which in its chemical and mechan- 
ical aspects differs but little from the animal structure, 
Same nitrogen in the tissues, same calcium in the bones, 
same iron in the blood. The physiology of modern science 
covers the realm of investigation on this lower rate of vi- 
bration of the human structure. 

2. The Etheric, the finer stuff in the interstices of the 
body; too fine to be detected with the microscope as yet de- 
veloped, but logically consistent with the stated proposition 
of science that no two particles of matter can touch. There- 
fore the spaces between the particles cannot be set down in 
thought as a vacuum. 

3. The Vital, the pervasive force which animates every- 
thing that breathes and lives, from the lowest organism to 
man. 

4. The Animal Soul, or, in the terminology of the East, 
Kama, which means desire. All sentient existence is gov- 
erned by this principle, and sad it is to relate, that man, 
who should have evolved above animal desire should still, 
as a rule, be functioning on the lowest vibrations of this 
plane. So materialistic has become some departments of 
scientific thought that one scientist in Washington defined 
"soul" as "conscious desire strong enough to induce active 

27 



effort for its satisfaction." This definition, however, il 
rightly construed, may serve good purpose on higher planes, 
for when evolution has carried all men to where many are 
now adapted, to an aristocracy of mind, a caste of brain 
activity, and above the greed of avarice in its brutal and 
animal propensities, then man, functioning on the mind 
plane, can yet retain the scientist's definition and be a soul 
of "conscious desire (for better things) strong enough to 
induce active effort for its satisfaction." 

The four Principles above enumerated, constitute the 
Personality of Man, and they are designated in Theosoph- 
ical literature as the Quaternary, because of their fourfold 
aspect. The symbology of the East was ever at one on this 
thought of the fourfold aspect of man, the four equal sides 
of a pyramid, all rising at an even slope to an apex. 

The three higher principles which complete the septen- 
uate are called the "Triad," the "Trinity," and the Immor- 
tal aspects of Man. The lowest of the three makes the fifth 
in the scale and is called Manas, and Manas means Thought, 
the Thinker, the Mind, the Knower, and all terms which 
have a relative bearing to man as a self-conscious being. In 
the course of evolution as taught by the sages of old, self- 
consciousness did not appear until this plane had been 
reached. It is this Ego, which is held responsible for all the 
sins committed through, and in, every new body or person- 
ality, or mask. This fifth Principle is the real individual- 
ity, or the divine man. As it sows so shall it reap. It is 
this Individuality which is the force within, the spectator, 
the witness, the "doer of deeds" the "thinker of thoughts" 
which Max Muller believed in, and he was not an enrolled 
Theosophist. It is this Ego which engraves its character 
principally upon the corporeal mask. The inner form char- 
acterises man also in his face. "As a man thinketh so he 
is." For the internal being is continually laboring to mani- 
fest itself outwardly. Each individuality acts out its qual- 
ity and impresses it upon the personality, or mask. The 

28 



will of the individual creates, for the will in motion is force, 
and force moulds matter. Thus, Emerson is enabled to say: 

"As a man thinketh so is he, and as a man chooseth so 
is he, and so is his nature. A man is a method, a progress- 
ive arrangement; a selecting principle, gathering his like 
to him wherever he goes. He takes only his own out of the 
multiplicity that sweeps and circles around him." 

In the school in which St. Paul studied it was taught 
that man's body is the work of the force within, and that 
Nature as manifested, the vesture of the Almighty, was the 
expression of the great force, the Great Breath which im- 
pelled it forth ,the Great Oversoul, and this deanthropomor- 
phizing conception is reaching to the better thought of our 
own day, for the late Professor Brinton of the University 
of Pennsylvania wrote in his "Religions of Primitive Peo- 
ples": 

"The idea of the World-Soul manifesting itself individ- 
ually in every form of matter from the star to the clod is 
as truly the belief of the Sioux Indian or the Fijian canni- 
bal, as it was of Spinoza or Giordano Bruno. I repeat, 
wherever we find the divine, the spiritual agency, set forth 
in myth or symbol, creed or rite, we find it characterized by 
two traits; it is of the nature of the human mind, and if 
is the source of ultimate power. Who dare measure the 
height and the depth of this intelligence? It draws its 
knowledge from sources which elude scientific research." 

The Sixth Principle is denominated Buddhi, the spir- 
itual soul. It means in the esoteric teaching of the East 
the same as the "Christos" of the Greeks, and the Mahat- 
ma of the Sanscrit. Other languages have terms corre- 
sponding. It is the direct vehicle of pure spirit. It is the 
plane of enlightenment. The great teachers of the world 
have been, according to the belief of the Theosophist, fully 
conscious on this plane. 

The highest principle is Atma, the Higher Self, neither 
your spirit nor mine, but like sunlight, shines on all. It 
is the universally diffused divine principle, and is as in- 
separable from its one and absolute super-spirit, the 



29 



Great Unknowable, as the sunbeam is inseparable from 
sunlight, 

With these short definitions, as compared to the longer 
interpretations in many Theosophical books, it is not to be 
wondered at that Marcus Aurelius could sincerely say: 

"Let your soul receive the deity as your blood receives 
the air; for the influences of the one are no less vital than 
the other. For there is an ambient, omnipresent spirit 
which lies as open and pervious to your mind (Manas) as 
the air you breathe into your lungs." 

Professor Max Muller quoted an incident which well 
illustrates the marked distinction upon which Theosophists 
dwell : 

"There" is a Sanscrit verse which an Indian friend of 
mine, a famous Minister of State sent me when retiring 
from the world to spend his last years in contemplation of 
the highest problems: 'I am not this body, not the senses, 
nor this perishable, fickle mind, not even the understanding. 
I am not indeed this breath; how should I be this entirely 
dull matter? I do not desire, no, not a wife, far less houses, 
sons, friends, lands and wealth. I am the witness only, the 
perceiving inner-self, the support of the whole world, and 
blessed." 

The profound meditative thought of the Eastern sages 
forever hugged nature; their similes and metaphors were 
clothed in language which conveyed directly the full and 
deep meaning of their utterances. In the attempt to teach 
those below them in intellectual development, this descrip- 
tion of Man is of record in one of the ancient Sanscrit 
books: 

"The body is a chariot, the bodily powers are the 
horses, and the external world is their field. The mind is 
the reins, the Soul is the charioteer, and the One Self is the 
lord of the chariot. 

"He who is ignorant, with mind not firmly held, his 
bodily powers run away with him, like the unruly horses 
of a charioteer. He is impure and gains not the place of 
peace. 

"But he who is wise holds firm his mind; his bodily 
powers, like well ruled horses, do not run away with him: 



30 



he has wisdom for his charioteer, he is forever pure, and he 
gains the end of the path, the supreme resting place of the 
emanating Power." 

The Hindu Upanishads teach that "according to a 
man's deeds and acts thus he becomes; he whose deeds are 
evil becomes evil; he becomes holy through holy works and 
evil through evil works." 

St. John on the Isle of Patmos, a student of the ancient 
esoteric lore, breathes the same lesson in the words: 

"He that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still." 
And a philosopher of more modern date wrote: 

"Whate'er thou lovest, Man, 

That, too, become thou must, 
God, if thou lovest God. 

Dust, if thou lovest dust." 

Professor Ladd of Yale University has emphasized the 
idea of the inner perceiver, the Knower, in his Psychology: 

"It is an undoubted fact that the mind [soul] has a his- 
tory in each individual case; and in each case such history 
is a development. This self-recognizing unity of develop- 
ment which belongs to the mind is a striking proof of the 
validity of its claim to be considered a real being. As the 
being which acts and knows itself as acting, which is acted 
upon and knows itself affected, which is the subject of 
states, and itself attributes these states to itself, which de- 
velops according to a plan and so remembers and compre- 
hends the significance of the past states that it can recog- 
nize the fact of its own development — as such a being the 
mind [soul] is more entitled to consider itself 'real' than to 
consider real any of the various objects that, immediately 
or indirectly, appear before it in the course of its history." 

The materialistic critic asks the Theosophist, "Have 
not animals souls?" The answer is, that the teachings of 
the ancient sages fall into line with the conclusions of mod- 
ern psychology on this point. It is granted that the enun- 
ciations from the Chairs of Psychology are received by the 
best scientific thinkers, and that the study of mind in ani- 
mals, usually called Comparative Psychology, and the study 



31 



of mind in the lower races of mankind called Ethnic Psy- 
chology prove that animals have all the kinds of conscious- 
ness man has, though not so highly developed. The differ- 
ence is in degree not in kind, and the ancient teaching goes 
farther, in declaring that in due course of evolution ani- 
mals will become men. But here a distinction must be 
noted. The animal soul, the Personality, differs from the 
Human or Divine Soul. Only Man, the Thinker, is con- 
scious of the Spiritual Nature. He is the being which is 
denominated the self. Man is self-conscious in his indi- 
viduality. The animal is conscious on the plane of col- 
lective existence as yet. The nature which man manifests 
as the outcome of his Animal soul grows out of his passions 
and desires and tastes and impulses rooted in bodily needs 
or processes. Animals share this nature in common with 
us, for they possess bodies, and etheric, or lower psychical 
matter, vitality, and a nature created by desires and needs. 
Thus man is conscious of disharmony and discontent. St. 
Paul struggled with this double nature; the modern think- 
er is engaged in an attempted solution of the problem and 
has decided tentatively, at least, that the lower nature is 
the brute left over in him. The Theosophist offers an ex- 
planation by presenting more fully than these pages can 
afford, the essential difference between Personality and In- 
dividuality. To understand the full scope of the teachings 
relating thereto would involve all that has been written by 
ancient and modern investigators on the doctrine of Evo- 
lution, to explain the growth and development of the Per- 
sonality, and all that was known, or at least, all that has 
been recovered of the Esoteric lore to present the doctrine 
of the origin of man. For the wisdom of the East, not con- 
tradicted successfully by the schools of the West, tells us 
that we cannot understand or even think of anything in 
nature of which we have not some correspondent within 
ourselves. If this outline is too severe a stretch into Cos- 
mic law, and it may frighten a few who dread to study too 

32 



severely, let them be content at least with a view presented 
by Rev. Lyman Abbott: 

"What am I and what is my destiny? Not what I am 
now, still less where did I come from: but what are the 
possibilities within me, and what the light that beckons me 
on to an illimitable life? What will be evolved out of me 
when the work of growth is over? That is the real question. 
If the Christian Church had spent half the time in studying 
the problem how it could get on, which it has spent in de- 
bating the question whether it came from Adam or not, it 
would have made much further progress than it has. Evo- 
lution is the development of any object toward the fulfil- 
ment of the end of its being, and by a force residing in the 
last analysis upon what is the power within me." 

The Theosophist asserts that the Individuality is that 
force within, — the Knower, the Thinker, essentially Divine. 

Goethe, in his elaboration of what he calls the "stub- 
born power of permanence in whatever has once possessed 
reality, or individuality" is paralleled in a more concrete 
argument Dy Faraday, who proclaimed the indestructibility 
of individual substance: 

"A particle of oxygen is ever a particle of oxygen — 
nothing can in the least wear it. If it enters into combina- 
tion and disappears as oxygen; if it passes through a thou- 
sand combinations, mineral vegetable, animal; if it lie hid 
for a thousand years and then be evolved, it is oxygen with 
its first individual qualities." 

It is the individuality which in all the domains of na- 
ture is constantly seeking to manifest itself in all the 
varying forms known to science. A study of this perpetual 
change of form and that of inequality in the forms, is the 
study of the personalities, the masks of the physical world. 
As a logical result, the great teachers of old, the most rigid 
of evolutionists in comprehensive scope and minute detail, 
embodied in their thought, that assuming the immortality 
of the individuality, there is no escape from the conclusion 
that the only way in which an endless existence can be lived 
in a universe of perpetual change of form, from planets to 
atoms, is through the successive embodiments of the divine 



4 



33 



essence in human and even in higher forms. On this rea- 
soning, in the higher thought of antiquity, which was The- 
osophy or Atma-Vidya (soul knowledge) or Gupta-Vidya 
(cave knowledge) or any other label for a group of ideas, 
the doctrine of the immortality of the soul was founded. 
It becomes of interest, therefore, to attempt an explanation 
of the idea of soul. 

34 



CHAPTER IV. 



SOUL AND SPIRIT— THE DISTINCTION, 

With a half column of agate type in Webster's diction- 
ary to define Soul, and a column and a half for Spirit, it is 
not to be wondered at that the "man on the street" is con- 
fused. Nor do the theologians aid the seach for truth. The 
scientists are divided, the more materialistic averring that 
properties of matter cover all that can be postulated on 
both soul and spirit, the more rational camp holding tenta- 
tively the deductions only, of Psychology, as manifested by 
Psycho-Physiology — functions of matter again. 

The Theosophical books, as a rule, copying the teach- 
ings of the Wisdom Religions of old, give some comfort, but 
the outsider who has heard naught since youth but the ex- 
planations of partisan preachers will find but little to aid 
in the general Theosophical definition: "Soul is a vehicle 
of consciousness." While this will stand for a serviceable 
explanation in a class-room where for years earnest pupils 
have sought to reach the hidden truths of arcane wisdom, 
it does not satisfy the more practical work-a-day citizen of 
this intensely active epoch. Soul is a vehicle for conscious- 
ness as thus defined, but we move to amend, and state that 
soul is a vehicle for a higher consciousness, for the soul it- 
self is consciousness, and is self conscious of that conscious- 
ness. It is because it is self-conscious that it is designated 
as a human soul, and thus distinguished from souls of a 
lower plane of consciousness. 

But with all the confusion which arises from the ab- 
struse disquisitions which have emanated from theologians, 

35 



especially since the days of the Scholastics in the Middle 
Ages, when they labored long and earnestly to decide how 
many souls could stand on the point of a needle, there have 
been clearer minds, with scientific method of thought, and 
others with bold intuitional reaches, buttressed by facts 
gleaned from observing the rational and moral order of the 
universe, who have given us an insight into what may be 
considered the realities. 

Prof. Clerk Maxwell, one of the keenest scientific intel- 
lects of the nineteenth century was wont to interrupt the 
too long and verbose explanation of some intricate problem, 
as presented by his questioner, with the emphatic query: 
"What is the go of it?" Given that one cue, and Maxwell 
would build an hypothesis and then demonstrate it mathe- 
matically, and with that cue we venture to make clearer the 
explanation of soul, in accord with the thought of the East. 

The "go" of a thing, is the soul of a thing, for things 
have souls. Prof. Denton wrote a fat-sized book entitled — 
"The Soul of Things." An impersonal concept has a soul, 
for it has a "go" to it, hence "the soul of an enterprise." 
A mass of souls has a "go," thus "an able general is the 
soul of his army." A personification of an attribute would 
in ordinary thought be conceived as the shadow of a shade 
of a substance, yet it has a "go" to it, for Shakespeare de- 
clared, "he is the very soul of bounty." So, "kindness is the 
soul of politeness"; "patriotism was the soul of the Revo- 
lution"; "Truth is the soul of science," because it is the 
"go" of it. 

Of course, these quotations pertain to that aspect of 
soul which belongs to the animating principle or force of 
anything; and this idea of soul is not new to the thought 
of man, for the great Hermes Trismegistus of Egypt, in- 
scribed: "Soul moves every entity. All things are full of 
soul, and all things are properly moved by that." 

This "go" of things is not at all confined to man as a 
soul and the visible things animate or inanimate around 

36 



him. It becomes a fact in the higher realms, and a con- 
ception of the unity of man and nature evolves the same 
conclusion. Pope sought to make this plain by suggesting 
that this world seems to require the existence of a Power 
which co-ordinates all the activities of the Cosmos, if it 
does not actually create the forms in and through which 
these activities are displayed, and so he regarded the Uni- 
verse as 

"One stupendous whole whose body nature is, and God 
the Soul. ,, 

Emerson's Oversoul is but the reincarnation of the 
older and buried thought, for even before Anaxagoras and 
his "Treatise on Nature" 500 B. C, Heraclitus who had 
preceded with a work on nature, gave the same thought, 
when he postulated that every individual soul participated 
in the universal Nous, or Oversoul. Pythagaros, who had 
studied in Egypt (B. C. 586) said: "There is one Universal 
Soul, diffused through all things, eternal, invisible, un- 
changeable in essence like truth, in substance resembling 
light." In its innermost meaning, in the aspect of activity, 
or the actus, it was the "go" of the world, or the universe, 
or the individual man, or the animal, the plant, the crystal, 
the cell, the molecule, even the atom; all have souls. 

But when we say the "go" of a thing there must be 
something to go — a goer. One implies the other, and a fur- 
ther implication arises in direction of the "go." It must be 
going somewhere, and must have come from somewhere, 
somehow. Platitudes do not clear the mystery. Voltaire 
may have satisfied his inner consciousness when he de- 
clared: 

"There must be something within us which produces 
our thought; something very subtle; it is a breath; it is 
fire; it is ether; it is quintessence; it is a slender likeness- 
it is an intellection; it is a number; it is harmony." 

All this pleads strongly for an intensified effort of our 
imagination to wrench the meaning from his similes. The 

37 



matter-of-fact reader would get a clearer conception from 
the Theosophieal definition that "soul is a vehicle of con- 
sciousness; elemental when below the plane of self-con- 
sciousness; human when it reaches this plane; divine when 
it passes it." No shock to the doctrine of evolution here, 
and no strain on the thought of the liberal Christian. 

Bruno, the last philosopher of Theosophic trend, who 
was burned at the stake four hundred years ago, elaborated 
a chain of reasoning on this point. The goer, the soul of a 
man, in his thought was a thinking monad. It stands mid- 
way between the divine intelligence and the world of ex- 
ternal things. As a portion of the Oversoul it is immortal. 
Through all this reasoning, he was the forerunner of Spino- 
zism. The monad of his conception need not differ from the 
beginning of a soul on this planet as held by Leibnitz, nor 
need it conflict with the postulate of Theosophy that every 
entity in the Universe either is, was, or prepares to become 
a man. All sentient life on this planet begins with instinct; 
all will end in Omniscience. This is the inevitable outcome 
of an evolution set forth in great detail in the Sanscrit lit- 
erature. 

The trend or direction of this go of the soul, while 
blurringly discerned in the apologetics of past centuries 
under dogmatic teaching, needs better exposition, more in 
line with practical thought. Thus, a soul converted, as in- 
terpreted by the sages of old is a soul set with a go in a new- 
direction. The soul remains the same, the direction only is 
changed. Etymologically the word means a turn; con, with, 
and verto, to turn. What is it that is turned? Clearly the 
course hitherto taken. Not the soul, the essence itself. The 
turning in another direction sets a pace for some other des- 
tiny, hence, the preacher who, in the advanced thought of 
the day was turning or converting his own thinking facul 
ties in a direction different from the rut of his professional 
brethren came close to the old thought: 

"We talk of saving souls — we mean saving lives," 

38 



and in the Theosophical thought, that is all the teacher and 
guide can save. He has no jurisdiction of the soul. That 
is beyond him, and the Eastern students have found better 
solutions for these questions than have appeared from our 
theological institutions. Another preacher in a recent con- 
tribution to a religious journal adds: 

"Both pulpit and pew will grow in religious fervor 
when they become more concerned about truth than about 
souls." 

Matthew Arnold caught the inspiration of truth when 
he said: 

"For after all, the object of religion is conversion [in 
its literal sense], and to change people's behavior." 

Now the behavior of a thing is the go of a thing, and 
the only thing that can be changed. The soul is a birth 
from afar, a part of the oversoul, and in its essential and 
fundamental make-up antedates any system of religious 
thought now on this globe, if the best reasoning of the 
great minds of all ages is not all astray, all perverted. If, 
however, the soul was a manufacture out of nothing at 
birth, the Theosophist loses his standing in court. 

Charles Johnston, M. R. A. S. of the Bengal Civil Serv- 
ice, Retired, and the "Prize-Sanscrit Scholar of India," has 
caught the finer force of interpretation in all his transla- 
tions, and has fed the Theosophical literature with the deli- 
cate shading and strong vigor of coloring here and there, 
which have entirely escaped the more pedantic philologists. 
In his "The Memory of Past Births," p. 29, is the following: 

"The true inner teaching of the East is so different 
from this, so much higher than this, that its would-be inter- 
preters have often failed to grasp it altogether, and have 
fallen into one grotesque mistake after another, as a result 
of this failure. We must try to gain some firm hold of this 
great principle, or all our further studies will be in vain. 
We must first try to understand and constantly keep in 
mind that the Eastern doctrine teaches that the soul of 
every man is already perfect, and perfectly endowed with 
all its infinite powers, being one with all other souls in the 

39 



highest life; so that no growth is possible for the Infinite; 
nor any gain thinkable for that which is the limitless all. 
What we can do is, not to add to the powers of our souls, 
but to come to some perception, dim and vague at the first, 
of the tremendous powers our souls already possess. We 
are not the patrons of the soul; and all its magical powers, 
to develop this, and call out that, as the humor takes us, 
and at last to turn the whole into a means of complacent 
self-glorification. We are rather humble beneficiaries of the 
divine Life; quite unable to save our souls, which need no 
saving; yet, by great good fortune not debarred from the 
possibility that our souls may save us. The soul of each of 
us, through its own inherent and divine nature, already 
stands above the ocean of birth and death, above time and 
space, above pain and sorrow." 

Bearing in mind that the word Man is derived from 
the Sanscrit Manus, to think, Theosophy is warranted in 
denominating man as "The Thinker." This Thinker is the 
fifth Principle of the sevenfold being. How came it into 
maifestation on this planet? By due course of evolution. 
What are its component parts? How is it constituted? Re- 
fer back to the ancient stanza quoted from the Book of 
Dyzan : 

"The spark hangs from the flame by the finest thread 
of Pohat (Energy, that Infinite Energy from which all 
things proceed). 

"It stops in the first world of Maya (change), and is a 
metal and a stone." Here, the law of crystallization must 
be guided by the Great Breath which sent it forth, and the 
Theosophist recognizes this in the charming manner by 
which Ruskin taught in the "Ethics of the Dust." Atma, 
the Seventh principle, Spirit, is pervading it, as it pervades 
everything, like the sunshine, good and evil alike; like the 
water which flows through the sponge, and through all ma- 
rine life. 

"It passes into the second, and behold — a plant; the 
plant (i. e., the directive agency in the plant) whirls 
through seven changes and becomes an animal." 

During all these shifting manifestations a soul is ob- 
servable to the mind's eye, for there is a "go" to each. 



40 



And now comes the point of contact overlooked by 
modern evolutionists: — 

"From the combined attributes of these, Manu (man) 
the Thinker is formed." 

No missing link here, and this not in a carping sense 
against the laudable endeavor of science to find a missing 
link in organic structure, in the form developed by growth 
in the long process of the organic evolution of man as one 
of the mammalia, the animal soul of Theosophy, the fourth 
Principle, governed by Desire, for desire is the animating 
force, the soul of that Principle, the "go" of it. 

Man, then, as the Thinker, is formed of attributes, and 
not according to the materialistic-cabalistic formula — 
CHON — carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen, the funda- 
mental elements which constitute protoplasm. Even such 
a man, whether viewed as a machine after the studious ex- 
planation of Prof. Thurston of Cornell University, or as a 
chemical compound according to others, or as a product of 
forces which are termed vital by another school, or as a 
unit of force, a dynamic center, by tne camp of thought 
which resolves all to Dynamism — even such a man would 
have a soul, the animal soul, — Kama, — of the Theosophical 
thought, and this soul would be the "go" of such a man. 
But the "attrbutes" which make man — the Thinker, are yet 
wanting and must be accounted for. The animal soul is 
not paramount in its sovereignty. It may claim its "state 
rights," but it is subordinate to the federated whole. Every 
atom in Theosophical thought has a soul of its own, its 
"go." When these atoms are grouped to form molecules, 
each molecule has a go, a soul. When these are combined 
into cells, there is a federation of all below, but tissues are 
formed which lord it over all, and these again are synthe- 
sized into organs, each with a soul or "go" of its own. The 
animal man federates all below, and the organs are all com- 
pacted to make an organism, of which the five senses are 
the channels or approaches to its environment and to its 

41 



inner center. But the attributes of Man, the Thinker, re- 
main unreckoned with. Can this be made plain to the read- 
er as the Theosophist understands it? 

A scientist whose writings on the functions of matter 
which appear to us as mind, brain products merely, "gave 
himself away" when discussing attributes, by declaring that 
science knows nothing of attributes. As a kindergarten 
lesson he chose sugar. Science can determine something of 
its molecular groupings, its atomic weights, its chemical 
ingredients, but when all is done, it is found that sugar is 
sweet. Sweetness is an attribute. He admits that Science 
can give no explanation why this attribute should appear 
as the real, distinguishing characteristic, that which really 
makes it sugar and nothing else in our concept. So with 
lead, in another primary lesson. Science can give no ra- 
tional explanation as to the attributes of these products of 
Nature, yet so-called teachers undertake to enlighten the 
world with their materialistic views on the most complex 
structure known in the world, Man, the Thinker, and solve 
the problem by stating that the action of force on matter 
accounts for it all. 

The oldest school of evolutionists, the sages of the 
East, have had these thoughts in their minds for the past 
ten thousand years and more. Weighed against the conclu- 
sions of some of our so-called savants who were oblivious 
of the gigantic proscesses transcending the province of the 
senses, until Darwin's Origin of Species appeared, or La- 
marck and Goethe, and Emerson before him had evolved the 
broad generalizations, they are puerile. These aphorisms, 
formed by the Eastern students, by uniformity of experi- 
ence, are easier of apprehension, more logical in deduction, 
and more satisfying to the aspiring mind. 

How did the Thinker get these attributes? If the com- 
bined attributes of all below are centered in the highest 
product — Man, by what course of procedure were they en- 
abled to thus combine? The Sages of the East are very 

42 



elaborate in the explanations. There are differences, to be 
sure, even in the esoteric works which are not given to the 
public. But it will suffice to say that the Oversoul held all 
that any unit soul can possibly possess. This unit soul, this 
monad, this Ego, this Individuated portion of the essence, 
was the spark which hung from the great reservoir of En- 
ergy as allegorically outlined in the stanza from the Book 
of Dyzan. If the Oversoul had it to give, the unit, a 
"spark" could have it. It could have it, according to the 
Eastern Wisdom, when it had reached a capacity for re- 
ceiving it. 

When Maj. Powell teaches us from his scientific poinc 
of view that the first organized bit of protoplasm is endow- 
ed with "motility and awareness," by which it can move, 
and yet be aware of how it should move, and this aware- 
ness is its knowledge of good and evil, he is trenching close 
on the enduring wisdom of the ages, but back of all this, the 
Eastern teacher would place the Infinite Spirit even in 
every molecule that bit of seemingly unconscious matter, 
for Spirit pervades all. And the "awareness" would involve 
even at this early stage in the process, the full play of all 
the psychical attributes which the tiny starter on the pil- 
grimage upward on the wheel of necessity was capable of 
exercising, and no more. There were attrioutes, however, 
even in that start, beyond the ken of the microscope or the 
grasp of too many of our dogmatic evolutionists. 

But to have attributes, something must carry them. 
Where was the carrier, the vehicle which bears them along? 
Will a conglomeration of principles or attributes, by the 
mere power of cohesion move along and preserve identity? 
According to some translations from the old teachings we 
are asked to believe just that, and that Prince Gautama, the 
Buddha, taught such a doctrine, that there is no Atman, no 
Self, no Ego, no continuous "I am I," no persisting individ- 
uality, merely a cluster, a grouping of intangible results 
which at the end of a life makes up a sum total, and this sum 

43 



of attributes begins in the next life just where the last sum 
left off. The books are full of exhaustive treatises on this 
vexed question, but to the Theosophist who aims to adhere 
closely to the essentials of the school, what matters it? 
Whether an Ego, or a bundle of conceptions, the essential 
fact remains in both of the conflicting schools, that they 
must reincarnate again to win perfection; that the law of 
Karma recognized by both schools will compel this pilgrim- 
age; and that when the pilgrimage is ended, the Perfecti- 
bility of Man will have been reached. The Six Systems of 
Indian philosophy are agreed on these three essentials. 

Lord Kelvin in his desperate attempt to evade the seem- 
ing miracle of life in the organic world coming out of the 
inorganic material, suggested that possibly a germ of life 
might have been transmitted from another planet snugly 
wrapped in the moss covered recesses of a meteoric stone. 
Given one germ, and all the rest would naturally follow. 
Weismann's tneory or tne one germ which has transmitted 
through cells all that now lives would be abundantly forti- 
fied, and the consequent deduction that all life, all cells, 
have a part of the life of that one spark by cellular trans- 
mission. This argument is available for the Theosophist 
when touching the Third Principle, Life — the Vital princi- 
ple, but not for the soul. How would the great principle of 
individualizing be accounted for — the integration forever 
manifesting, no two alike, nor can they be made alike? 

Lord Kelvin's hint is valuable, to say the least, as com- 
pared to the theological theory that matter as we sense it 
on this planet, was created out of nothing. The one germ 
enclosed in a meteoric stone gives a start in a new direc- 
tion, but it is amplified in the larger thought of science. 
See Smithsonian Rep., 1895, p. 198: 

"Prof. Newton has attempted to form some estimation 
of the number of such aerolites, and he comes to the con- 
clusion that our atmosphere receives the enormous total of 
some 20,000,000 meteorites per 24 hours, each of which is 

44 



large enough to produce the phenomena known under the 
name of the 'shooting star.' However small these frag- 
ments may be — and yet in order to become visible because 
of the heat evolved by friction against the atmosphere, they 
cannot be so very minute — they certainly bring to our plan- 
et a considerable amount of foreign matter, a large propor- 
tion of which remains some time suspended before falling/' 

If they "bring to our planet a considerable amount of 
foreign matter" is it any strain on the scientific conscious- 
ness to think that other things, not labelled "foreign mat- 
ter" can also be brought, especially when we take it for 
granted that the Universe is spun of the same stuff as re- 
vealed by spectrum analysis? Equally so, when our planet 
is given all the chance to pick up on its travel of 33 millions 
of geographical miles, which our solar system traverses an- 
nually. How many miles have been traveled during the 60 
million years, which is the latest of Lord Kelvin's computa- 
tions for this earth, and he has changed his estimate three 
times during the life of the author of these pages? 

In the world of mind as in the world of matter, as the 
Theosophist believes, there can be no life, no soul, no "go" 
of things where there are no energizing and active influ- 
ences at work. These energizing and active influences 
transcend the spectroscope, yet are real, in Nature's Finer 
Forces, or, as the Sanscrit describes that particular domain 
and activity in the Cosmos, "The Tattvas," (the science of 
the Finer Forces). Attributes are accounted for in that 
science. They may not be the last word in the world's great 
thought, but they afford more satisfaction to the student 
than can be derived from a study of materialism. These 
attributes have one common origin as therein taught, and 
are so directly related and naturally dependent that they 
can be reasonably resolved to their one source, and possess 
equivalents of power in their normal action as real as can 
be shown in the doctrine on the physical plane — the Corre- 
lation of Forces. They came from One, they return to One, 
is the ancient teaching. The original nebula held the es- 

45 



sences, the potentia of all attributes, from which all indi- 
viduation proceeded. These seeds of true humanity have 
come and gone, and will come and go again as will stars 
and suns and solar systems, and universes until the purpose 
for which they were impelled is accomplished. They were 
sent forth, each with a soul, and a go to each as that as- 
pect of activity which is forever associated with the soul. 
What are some of these attributes? The things desirable 
in the higher aspirations of man. What else so desirable 
as the attributes of devoutness, which no animal soul can 
possess in this round or cycle; or wisdom, or magnanimity 
and peace? or nutritious thoughts and sanative senti- 
ments; religious veneration for great and good men and 
heroic masters in virtue, and the great Teachers of all ages, 
all climes; the recognition of the best in all better lives as 
so much redeeming leaven. 

Again, Man the Thinker exercises the prerogatives of 
his attributes in the search into the earth's history, in the 
study of Nature's laws, in investigating the system of the 
Universe, in judging of right and wrong, in himself and in 
others. Did these attributes evolve by due course of organic 
evolution? These attributes, which together with many 
not enumerated, are the credentials which Man, the Think- 
er, holds to prove his kinship with the Divine in the Uni- 
verse. The exaltation of Man in the direction, the go, of 
his higher nature is the proof that Man is not what the 
materialistic scientists choose to postulate him by a work- 
ing hypothesis, which in its organic aspect contains great 
truths, but which is but part of the truth when measured 
with the teachings of the oldest evolutionists in the world. 
The present existence of Man is but a link in the chain of 
eternity which enables him to say, I am, I always was, I 
always will be. I and my divine source are One. I came 
from that, I shall return to it 

Theosophicai literature embraces many of the allego- 
ries of the East regarding the Hierarchies of Beings who 

4a 



assist in the development of all the Principles — the Seven, 
of which man is the fulfilment. Many students of the cul- 
ture take these allegories literally, forgetful of the fact 
that an allegory is that which says one thing but means 
another as Max Muller stated it. Allegories are for teach- 
ing purposes. Yet, they carry the soul of truth, the go of 
truth. Whether superior beings are to be termed "Lords 
of Light," or Dhyans-Choans, or "Sons of Wisdom," or 
"Sons of Mind" or "Manasa-Putra," or any appellation 
found in the Esoteric lore of old, they all convey a teaching 
which warrants a belief in Powers or activities transcend- 
ing our plane of being. Herbert Spencer gives a hint of 
this when discussing Law: 

"Though we can never learn the ultimate nature of 
things, we are learning more and more their order of mani- 
festation; and this order 01 manifestation we call law. 
There is a law inherent in the primordial substance of all 
matter which obliges all things to evolve after the same 
mode or manner. The worlds in the infinite abyss are in 
all respects similar to the cells m vegetable or animal tis- 
sue. Wherefore, by the study of the natural sciences, the 
truth may be learnt, not only in regard to these but in re- 
gard also to the occult sciences for the facts of the first are 
as a mirror to the facts of the last. And just what the spir- 
itual Ego is to the physical man is God to the manifest uni- 
verse, its spirit, dwelling in and pervading it; no more no 
less." 

Acting on this chain of reasoning many Theosophists 
depend not so much on the hierarchies who are supposed to 
control or guide, but on the law under which they act, for 
they reason that these superhuman beings are but the chil- 
dren of the dense infinitudes, obedient to the law as are we. 

Prof. Huxley is quoted frequently on this line of 
thought because of the following extract which is taken 
from his letter on the "Three Bishops": 

"For our earth is an insignificant particle of the solar 
system, while the solar system is hardly worth speaking of 
in relation to the All; and, for anything that may be proved 
to the contrary, there may be beings endowed with full 



47 



powers over our system, yet practically as insignificant as 
ourselves in relation to the universe. If any one pleases, 
therefore, to give unrestrained liberty to his fancy, he may 
plead analogy in favor of the dream that there may be, 
somewhere, a finite being, or beings, who can play with the 
solar system as a child plays with a toy." 

Combine the thoughts as expressed by both Spencer and 
Huxley, and the germ of insight is displayed which gives 
rise to the idea that immortals such as the masters in the 
world's history continue to exist; that they have not lost 
their compassion for the human race, for they are part of 
it; that they are the great souls, or in the language of the 
East, the Messiahs, the Christs, the Buddhas, the Mahat- 
mas, for all these mean the same, Maha, great; Atma, soul. 

And Darwin left for reverent consideration the follow- 
ing (Life and Letters, vol. 1, p. 282) : 

"Believing as I do that in the distant future man will 
be a far more perfect creature than he now is, it is an in- 
tolerable thought that he and all other sentient beings are 
doomed to complete annihilation after such long, continued, 
slow progress." 

Therefore, the Theosophist is justified in looking for- 
ward to the goal, the Perfect Man, 
"The one far-off, divine event 
To which the whole creation moves," 
as Tennyson has so gloriously expressed it. 

To define Spirit as distinct from Soul, the teachings of 
the East are explicit and fascinating because of their sim- 
plicity. Spirit is one and indivisible. It is not mine nor 
thine; nor can it be so rendered in the thought of the sages. 
It pervades everything. Each thing in Nature partakes of 
its share of this all-pervasive force according to its capac- 
ity. Elisha Gray gives an apt illustration: 

"When a photographer trains his camera upon an ob- 
ject, however intense the light may be, and however clear- 
cut the picture that is thrown upon the plate in the camera, 
unless the plate is properly sensitized so that the picture 
may be impressed upon it, all the other conditions are in 
vain." 



48 



So with the action of Spirit. The Theosophical thought 
has always taken the sun and its rays as a metaphor. It 
was used by the Rishis of the Vedic period; by the Achi-u, 
(the manes or Saints of Egypt) ; by the philosophers of the 
Vedanta; by the Sufis (the descendants of the Arifs) the 
learned Arabian sages, by the Magi, the wise men of the 
Zoroastrian learning; by the Gnostics and the scholars of 
the Alexandrian University, and its rival seat of learning, 
the school of Pergamos; by the German school of mystic 
thought; by the Cambridge Platonists, and by the modern 
Theosophists. 

As the light grows, power grows with it. The sun was 
but the emblem of that power. The amoeba can take but 
little; its capacity is small. Man, the complex product, can 
take much, his capacity is more. It must be assimilated; 
it cannot be individuated. The sunshine pouring into my 
room is not my sunshine; it belongs to all; but it can be 
assimilated to good purpose, and therefore the allegory is 
carried to beautiful imagery in the Orient of the Soul as 
a vehicle of consciousness, the bearer of it; the assimilator, 
the digester. 

The sponge is another metaphor in Theosophical teach- 
ing, and for teaching only. The water, representing the all- 
pervasive spirit, flows through it. The sponge, if gifted 
with speech cannot say of it, it is mine or thine. It flows 
for all. But the sponge can do something with that portion 
which flows through its tiny chambers. It breathes it in 
and takes even the air which the water contains and all the 
eubstances in the sea water which are for its own good. 
Man can do no more in kind, though greater in degree. 
This is the keynote to spiritualizing the lower realms of 
nature. 

The Sanscrit word is Atma (spirit), and means, be- 
cause of its all abounding supply, breath as well, to inter- 
pret the Great Breath. It is the Seventh Principle in Man, 
the highest on the rung of the ladder. "It goeth where It 

5 49 



listeth." Hence Paul's division of man in his threefold a» 
pect, body, soul (psyche) and spirit (pneuma). The usage 
of an utilitarian age has applied it to pneumatics, because 
it takes from the all surrounding environment its force. It 
is the Christos of the higher archaic thought, the seventh 
Principle, if anything. From it comes the ray of "light 
which lighteth every man which cometh into the world." 
As Whittier puts it: 

"The Word which the reason of Plato discerned, 
The Truth at whose symbol the Mithra fire burned; 
The Soul of the World which the Stoic but guessed, 
Is the Light Universal the Quaker confessed." 

This light, the ray from the Absolute is that Power all 
pervading, "not ourselves that makes for righteousness." 
It is as immanent in the soul of the Universe, or the soul of 
the world, or the soul of man as is the power of gravity in 
the cosmos. In it "we live and move and have our being." 

In the philosophical text books the opposite poles of 
manifesting substance are termed Spirit and Matter. The 
strict Theosophical school prefers to eliminate the conjunc- 
tion "and" and to designate it as Spirit-Matter. At their 
ultimate they are but two aspects from a common source 
and one as sacred and holy as the other. Spirit reaches to 
the farthest, remotest atom of matter; matter sublimated, 
reaches to the farthest rim of spirit force. Matter is as in- 
comprehensible to the mind of man as spirit. In the polar- 
ity of things, according to the Eastern school, both are pres- 
ent in everything. Soul stands midway as a vehicle. The 
development of the individual soul (not in essence but in 
function) is but a small fragment of the Oversoul. The de- 
velopment has been along fixed lines. No new material has 
been created. That which we hold was involved in Nature 
from the beginning. So that, in connection with the grow- 
ing Theosophical thought that the human soul, with its at- 
tributes, comes from Divinity, and returns to the Infinite 
when its mission is fulfilled, by successive reincarnations, 

50 



there is also the deeper thought that it was never torn away 
from Divinity but by man's own choice. It was a losing of 
the way, the right "go." The bridge was not broken but 
rendered invisible for a time by the darkness of passions 
and desires engendered by the wrong tendencies and habits 
of the flesh. Hence the old adage in Eastern thought, para- 
phrased in the Scripture of Christianity, borrowed almost 
word for word from the old Sanscrit, and born from tho 
meditations of pastoral and shepherd life. 
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray." 

51 



CHAPTER V. 



REINCARNATION. 

After more than a quarter of a century's discussion of 
the doctrine of Reincarnation, brought about mainly 
through the literature of the Theosopical societies, it no 
longer appears singular in the world's thought. But inqui- 
ries beset the advocate of this old teaching; the busy man 
of the day asks: "Is Reincarnation paralleled in Nature?" 
And, again, "if we have lived before on earth, and are to re- 
turn, upon what principle or law in the Cosmos is the 
process rooted?" 

The Theosophist refers the seeker to the Second Postu- 
late of the philosophy which came from the East: 

"The eternity of the Universe, in toto, as a boundless 
plane, periodically the playground of numberless universes 
incessantly manifesting and disappearing called the ''mani- 
festing stars' and the 'sparks of eternity.' The appear- 
ance and disappearance of worlds is like a regular tidal ebb 
and flow, of flux and reflux. Herein is postulated the law of 
cycles, alike applicable to atoms or suns, to individual man 
or to solar systems." 

Whittier caught the inspiration of this old teaching, 
and in more than one of his poems the central idea may be 
discerned. Here is one: 

"And India's mystics sang aright, 
Of the One Life pervading all, — 
One being's tidal rise and fall 
In soul and form, in sound and sight, — 
Eternal outflow and recall." 
If worlds reappear and disappear to reappear again by 
a re-forming of the original atoms as astronomy teaches, 

52 



(for nothing can be lost,) the Theosophist is justified in 
adhering to the universality of law. 

The spectra reveals the threads of nebulous matter and 
embryo suns, which must succeed older planets, all cumu- 
lative proof that there is no special creation; that this ap> 
plies in the moral as in the material sphere; that the fun- 
damental unity and the subservience of all things and con- 
cepts of things, can be resolved to a law, which, if it oper 
ates anywhere, operates everywhere. It is the reign of law, 
the immutability of law. 

"Behold, I snow you Truth! Lower than hell 

Higher than heaven, outside the utmost stars, 
Farther than Brahm doth dwell 

Before beginning, and without an end, 
As space eternal and as surety sure, 

Is fixed a Power divine which moves to good, 
Only its laws endure." 

And on those laws, emanating from that Power (for 
antecedents of a super-physical kind are required) the 
Theosophist pledges faith, though always with large insist- 
ence on the ethical as rooted in the physical, to account for 
the logical necessity for man to appear and disappear, and 
appear again, the evolution onward until perfection is 
gained, to be accomplished through self-induced, and self- 
devised methods after having attained to self-consciousness. 

Even so strong a reasoner as the late Professor Huxley 
gave utterance to the following: 

"None but very hasty thinkers will reject it on the 
ground of inherent absurdity. Like the doctrine of evo- 
lution itself, that of transmigration has its roots in the 
world of reality, and it may claim such support as the great 
argument from analogy is capable of supplying." 

With full accord to Professor Clerk Maxwell's declara- 
tion that all science is but a disclosure of analogies, it is le- 
gitimate for the Theosophist to state that there is more of 
analogy in nature to sustain the doctrine of Reincarnation 
than can be found in favor of any other proposition which 

53 



see vq to enlighten mankind on the grave problems connect- 
ed with Man and his destiny. 

Professor Max Muller, acknowledged for more than 
a half century as one of the leading thinkers, said: 

"Personally I must confess to one small weakness. I 
cannot help thinking that the souls toward whom we feel 
drawn in this life, and that the souls who repel us here, 
we do not know why, are the souls that earned our disap- 
proval, the souls from which we kept aloof in a former 
life." 

Sir William Crookes, probably unequaled in the scien- 
tific world to-day as a discoverer as well as a teacher, be- 
lieves it as in conformity with the law discerned by him 
in all departments of nature. 

Camille Flammarion, the great astronomer of France, 
and, more properly speaking, of the world, admits the rea- 
sonableness of the doctrine over any other yet proposed as 
the solution of a profound problem. 

The best of German philosophy is suffused with the 
idea. Schopenhaur, who boldy declared that he gathered 
his light from the Upanishads of India, was as strenuous an 
advocate of reincarnation as can be found in modern times. 

Lessing, Hegel, Leibnitz, Herder, Fichte, the younger, 
and a long galaxy of German scholars of the present day 
are in harmony on the problem. 

Many of the strongest points in its favor can be found 
in the writings of Goethe, wherein he set forth his argu- 
ments in favor of what he calls the "stubborn power of per- 
manence in whatever has once possessed reality." 

Faraday's opinion quoted before can well be afforded 
repetition here, to disclose another point of view for he 
was proclaiming the "indestructibility of individuality:" 

"A particle of oxygen is ever a particle of oxygen — 
nothing can in the least wear it. If it enters into combina- 
tion and disappears as oxygen; if it pass through a thous- 
and combinations, mineral, vegetable, animal; if it lie nid 
for a thousand years and then be evolved, it is oxygen with 
its first individual qualities." 

54 



In order to make clear to the reader who has not the 
time to compare the authorities quoted, how the processes 
of Nature are harmoniously acting together, the great with 
the small, one item in the make-up of the chain of reason- 
ing should not be lost sight of, viz.: How can anything 
which belongs to this world get away from it? If we postu- 
late the "eternity of the Universe in toto as a boundless 
plane" we must at the same time postulate its sovereign 
unity. What's in it must stay there; it belongs to it. 

If we posit again, that this eternal Universe as a bound- 
less plane is "periodically the playground of numberless 
universes incessantly manifesting and disappearing" the 
old matter is worked over, as a logical sequence, and to the 
initial impulse,or the first vibratory thrill, or first Great 
Breath, as you choose, nothing is added, nothing is taken 
away. Modern science will sustain the Eastern student of 
Physics is this particular. 

If again, from one of these fresh universes thus im- 
pelled forth, there is flung off as an individuated portion, 
a solar system, (and there are many thus far flung in 
space,) each takes its own; keeps its own; holds its own to 
its own work. 

If, now, a solar system flings off an individuated por- 
tion of itself making a world of its own, as is our sphere, 
it brings its own with it, and holds it until the purpose is 
fulfilled, or "filled-full," as the old Saxon had it. A given 
amount of energy came with it; it stays with it; it will go 
out with it, but while functioning in its sphere of influence 
all is here. Nothing gets away so far as Science or reason 
can enlighten us. Only in the domain of a decrepit theology 
can we find things leaving, and they, the souls of mankind, 
a small contingent going to heaven, the overwhelming ma- 
jorities going to hell. 

Take the air we breathe. It carries both life and death 
as one, and only one, of the many agents for that very pur- 
pose. It is in a state of flux and reflux as stated in the Sec- 

55 



ond Postulate, now supporting life, and now destroying it a3 
a dangerous poison; but it is all here, and will stay, though 
transmuted many times. In the words of J. B. Dumas: 

"The plants owe their existence to air, and animals 
could not exist without plants. The air that lately gently 
fanned our faces is the sum total of all life that has been, 
it is a myriad of lives; it is those who preceded us; it is 
the dear dead for whom we mourn; it is now a part of our- 
selves, to-morrow it will proceed on its way, going through 
incessant metamorphoses, passing from one organism to an- 
other without choice or favor, until the time comes when 
our planet shall die and the substance of all that was life 
shall . return to the cold earth, a gigantic grave that will 
revolve in silence and desolation through the unfathomable 
depths of the darkened heavens." 

Could any quotation from Science more emphatically 
demonstrate the soundness of the Second Postulate of The- 
osophic Philosophy? 

Take again the solid foundation of the earth on the 
surface of which we exist. The new continents are built 
out of the ruins of older sedimentary deposits, and it is 
even legitimate to say scientifically that these continents 
are reconstructed from the ruins of an old planet. At least, 
the point taken is sustained, that nothing belonging to this 
earth has been allowed by any law now in our scientific cog- 
nizance to escape. Even the new races are fed out of the 
decomposition of the foregoing. Life evermore feeds death; 
death in turn feeds life; both stay here as part of the wise 
economy of the Inscrutable Purpose. The lands now form- 
ing in the Lower Tertiary are fed from the washings of the 
protruding Paleozoic rocks, even the Archaen foundations. 
All here under transformation, and obeying the law of re- 
embodiment, which is the parallel of re-incarnation; the 
former applying to natural domains below man, the latter, 
as its name indicates — a re-fleshing, a re-coming into a 
fleshly existence: 

"The dust we tread was once alive," and 
our scientific text-books teach us that almost every par- 

56 



tide, albeit invisible to the naked eye, still retains the or- 
ganic structure which, at periods of time incalculably re- 
mote, was impressed upon it by the powers of Nature as 
living proof that all is here; none has escaped to Mars or 
to any other land of parks, commonly called Paradise — and 
even this word came from an older thought, an older race, 
the Persians, whom we were wont to call "pagans." 

The sea, too, holds its own. Seemingly, it gives in re- 
sponse to the sun's demand a part of itself, but the trans- 
mutation is only too apparent in the end, as it is throughout 
*11 visible Nature: 

"Stars sweep and question not. This is enough 
That life and death and joy and woe abide; 

And cause and sequence, and the course of time, 
And Being's ceaseless tide. 

Which, ever-changing, runs, linked like a river 
By ripples following ripples, fast, or slow — 

The same yet not the same — from far-off fountain 
To where its waters flow 

Into the seas. These steaming to the Sun, 
Give the lost wavelets back in cloudy fleece 

To trickle down the hills, and ghae again; 
Having no pause or peace. 

This is enough to know, the phantasms are; 

The Heavens, Earths, Worlds, and changes changing 
them, 

A mighty whirling wheel of strife and stress 
Which none can stay or stem." 

Turning now to the lowest activity known to man, that 
which manifests in what modern science calls inorganic 
matter. The germs of all are at the outset like each other 
to the ordinary vision, but in the process of development 
each germ acquires, according to Eastern teaching, at 
marked epochs in its time, or "rounds" if the technical ter- 
minology of Theosophy is insisted upon, the differential 
characteristics of the sub-kingdom to which it belongs. 

57 



Whether these processes are in charge of higher entities, er 
hierarchies of beings assigned to such overseeing, let each 
Theosophist decide for himself. The real point at issue is 
to prove by this development, that each germ will re-em- 
body, or reincarnate- as the case may be, according to law, 
which is not violated from the amoeba to man. Force is 
never lost in the inorganic world and it is never created 
in the organic world, but it is here on earth, for the earth's 
sake, and will not get away without law to warrant it. It 
will re-embody, aye, even as a manifestation of energy, it 
will reincarnate. 

As a typical illustration of the stubborn power of per- 
manence in whatever has once possessed reality, let the fol- 
lowing scientific experiment serve to show, how small 
spores in the vegetable kingdom can hold their own, and 
re-embody (or reincarnate in their own manner of tissue) 
after the struggle of six years soaking in alcohol, which in 
ordinary thinking would have destroyed every vestige of 
individual force or power in each: 

In May, 1895, I recorded the fact (Botanical Gazette, 
20 : 229) that the spore fruits of Marsilia quadrifolia had 
so completely excluded 95 per cent, alcohol that both micro- 
spores and megaspores from them germinated freely, al- 
though they had then remained in the alcohol continuously 
for almost three years. It may be of interest to record 
further that when, in April, 1898, the last of the material 
gathered in the summer of 1892 was used up, no diminution 
in the vitality of the spores was apparent. Vigorous nor- 
mal prothallia were grown from them in great numbers. 
The sporocarps had thus kept out alcohol for almost six 
years. — Charles R. Barnes, The University of Chicago. 

If these insignificant (relatively speaking) vegetable 
entities could hold their own for six years, and resist the 
external assault of the alcohol in which they floated, is it 
any strain upon the scientific consciousness to make a de- 
mand for the reappearance of Man, his reincarnation on 
earth, when as a dynamic center of force he surpasses in in- 
dividuality any known entity on the globe? 

68 



The claim that grains of wheat found in the Pyramids 
of Egypt have germinated after 4,000 years of rest may not 
be accepted as conclusive by all scientists, some alleging 
that we have no positive proof of such power of re-birth 
into the vegetable world for a period over two hundred 
years; but whether for two, or one hundred, or fifty, or 
ten years, the principle here contended for is the same — the 
stubborn power of permanence of the wheat; wheat it was, 
wheat it must be again, according to the second Postulate, 
for the principle applies to kernels of grain as it does to 
"atoms or suns, to individual man or to solar systems. ,, We 
cannot think intelligently without admitting the great law 
of the Conservation of Energy, and its logical sequence, the 
Persistence of Force, since the postulate that force can arise 
out of nothing or can lapse into nothing is a "verbal propo- 
sition which we can by no amount of effort translate into 
thought," and at the end of every demonstration whether 
wheat or man we reach a conviction, the truth of which i3 
centered in an axiom: "All that is in the world will stay 
in the world until the planetary plan is fulfilled. 

Re-birth and re-life must go on till their pur- 
poses are accomplished. Nature does nothing by leaps. 
Anything which in our thought suggests a possible future 
equally as well expresses an achieved past by a continuous 
effort, though forms may differ. A thing is different from 
another because it has been differentiated, yet they are iden- 
tical in a more general aspect. If we recognize the One in 
the Many we do not thereby refuse to admit the many in 
the one. The "flux and reflux" of the Second Postulate is 
forever at work. The words are as true to-day as they were 
long ago, when uttered by the Sage of Koheleth: 

"One generation goeth and another generation cometh; 
and the earth abideth. The wind goeth toward the south 
and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about contin- 
ually in its course, and returneth again to its circuits. All 
the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the 

59 



place whither the rivers go, thither they go again. -That 
which has been is that which shall be, and that which hath 
been done is that which shall be done. There is no new 
thing under the sun." 

All tidal ebb and flow, fiux and reflux again. And all 
in this world. As Emerson puts it: 

"When I talked with an ardent missionary and pointed 
out to him that his creed found no support in my experi- 
ence, he replied: 'It is not so in your experience, but it is so 
in the other world.' I answer: 'Other world! There is no 
other world. God is one and omnipresent; here or nowhere 
is the whole fact.' " 

And man is here; here to stay until perfected, if the 
wisdom of the ages is to predominate over a superficial and 
unscientific theology. 

Indirectly, strong proof is oftimes given to the doctrine 
of Reincarnation when it was not so intended. A case in 
point is that of the ingenious chapter by Henry Drummond 
on Conformity to Type. He was endeavoring to apply what 
Darwin called the Law of Unity of Type, to his theory of 
"Natural Law in the Spiritual World," and had quoted 
Huxley at the microscope, showing that at the start, the 
apple which fell in Sir Isaac Newton's garden, Newton's 
dog Diamond, and Newton himself, began life at the same 
point, because there could be detected no difference between 
the sets of germs, vegetable and animal, or between oak and 
palm, worm and man; all start in life together, no matter 
into what strangely different forms they may afterwards 
develop, no matter whether they are to live on sea or land, 
creep or fly, swim or walk, think or vegetate, — in the em- 
bryo, or protoplasmic form as it first meets the eye of Sci- 
ence, they are indistinguishable. 

As Huxley has stated it, "Protoplasm, simple or nucle- 
ated, is the formal basis of life," and Huxley was more 
largely quoted by Drummond: 

"Let a moderate supply of warmth reach its watery 
cradle, and the plastic matter undergoes changes so rapid 
and yet so steady and purposelike in their succession that 

60 



one can only compare them to those operated by a skilled 
modeller upon a formless lump of clay. As with an invis- 
ible trowel the mass is divided and subdivided into smaller 
and smaller portions, until it is reduced to an aggregation 
of granules, not too large to build withal the finest fabrics 
of the nascent organism. * * * One is almost involun- 
tarily possessed by the notion, that some more subtle aid to 
vision than an achromatic would show the hidden artist, 
with his plan before him, striving with skillful manipula- 
tion to perfect his work." 

Drummond pursues the thought and adds that "the 
artist is not working at random, but according to law. He 
has his 'plan before him.' " One artist makes all the dogs, 
another makes all the birds, "a third makes all the men" 
[the forms of men, he ought to have said]. Moreover, each 
artist confines himself exclusively to working out his own 
plan. He appears to have his own plan somewhat stamped 
upon himself, and his work is rigidly to reproduce himself. 

No better reasoning according to the teaching of the 
East could have been given on the facts, but Drummond 
may have been thinking deeper than his readers imagine, 
for he admitted emphatically that Emerson was the first to 
teach him to see with his "mind's eye." But to, go further 
with him, take the following: 

"What goes on then in the animal kingdom is this — 
the Bird-Life seizes upon the bird-germ and builds it up 
into a bird, the image of itself. The Reptile-Life seizes 
upon another germinal speck, assimilates surrounding mat- 
ter, and fashions it into a reptile. The Reptile-Life thus sim- 
ply makes an incarnation of itself. The visible bird is sim- 
ply an incarnation of the invisible Bird-Life." 

Could anything be more corroborative of the doctrine 
of re-incarnation? Of course, the visible bird, if simply an 
incarnation of itself (as with the Reptile-Life) must be a 
recombining of a former force of the same kind. Drummond 
was hardly able to ignore the broad doctrine in science of 
the conservation of energy and the persistence of force, as 
the following will show, though he used the argument to 
fortify another point of view: 



61 



" We should be forsaking the lines of Nature were we 
to imagine for a moment that the new creature was to be 
lormed out of nothing. Ex nihilo nihil — nothing can be 
made out of nothing. Matter is uncreatable and indestruc- 
tible; nature and man can only form and transform. 
Hence when a new animal is made, no new clay 
is made. Life merely enters into already existing matter, 
assimilates more of the same sort and re-builds it. He must 
have a peculiar kind of protoplasm, a basis of life 
and that must be already existing. Now he finds this in the 
materials of character with which the natural man is pre- 
viously provided." 

If Drummond's entire chapter is carefully analyzed, 
there . will be found a desperate effort on the part of a 
Scotch Presbyterian to be scientific at the same time he 
enunciates a doctrine of his creed which is unscientific 
and this one error is what caused the thinking world to 
assert almost unanimously that the book labeled "Natural 
Law in the Spiritual World," was as great a failure as any 
attempt of the kind that had ever been exploited, though 
the aspiration of Drummond was sincere enough. 

In the able work of Professor E. B. Wilson of Colum- 
bia College, New York, "The Cell in Inheritance and Hered- 
ity," there is disclosed by the microscope wonders which 
eclipse in interest to the Theosophist all the fables of Ara- 
bia. A bit of protoplasm, the size of the point of a pin, is 
discovered to be a small universe with its central, animat- 
ing, star, (for it shoots out rays) called the Centresome. 
This small planet traverses its circuit, circling other bodies 
scattered about like other planets, called the chromosomes, 
and these in turn float about in a liquid something which 
may be likened to our all-pervading ether as postulated by 
modern science, or the Akasa, as defined by the scholars 
of the East, called in this newly-discovered cell, "the liquid 
in the meshes," kept in by delicate mesh work called the 
protoplasmic reticulum, all surrounding the contained mat- 
ter, scattered in this revealed space. The nucleus is a large 
body, and the nucleolus is inside the nucleus, another small 

62 



universe within the larger. But the mathematical accuracy 
of nature commands our reverence. These small planetary 
bodies, the chromosomes in that cell, always appear with 
precise accuracy, twenty-four to the lily and kindred plants, 
and sixteen always to man or ox, and to many of the order 
of mammalia. No chance here; thorough system in the reap- 
pearance of life. Every cell carries with it these wonderful 
characteristics, and the unfolding of this miniature solar 
system, as told by Science, is as fascinating as the astro- 
nomical dissertations on our larger system. Yet, with all 
the research in this direction, Prof. H. W. Conn, of the 
Chair of Biology inWesleyan university, closes his excellent 
little handbook, "The Story of the Living Machine," with 
the following paragraph: 

"The great problems still remaining for solution, which 
have hardly been touched by modern biology in all its en- 
deavors to find a mechanical explanation of the living ma- 
chine, are, therefore, three: First, the relation of mentality 
to the general phenomena of the correlation of force; sec- 
ond, the intelligible understanding of the mechanism of 
protoplasm which enables it to guide the blind chemical 
and physical forces of nature so as to produce definite re- 
sults; third, the kinds of forces which may have contribu- 
ted to the origin of that simplest living machine upon 
whose activities all vital phenomena rest — the living cell." 

With all due deference to the Professor who is estab- 
lished in a university the name of which — "Wesleyan" — in- 
dicates its professed thought, we humbly submit a method 
of thought begotten of "pagans" who spoke 
Sanscrit and who studied on the gravest prob- 
lems of life for centuries, who have never been excelled 
on certain lines of thought. They labeled this system the 
"Tattvas" which means "Nature's Finer Forces." In this 
branch of their scientific thought they dwelt on the "kinds 
of forces" alluded to above, and in their conclusions they 
would not, though "pagans," use these words: "the mechan- 
ism of protoplasm which enables it to guide the blind 
chemical and physical forces of nature;" and in that same 



63 



esoteric school, though it may not be final, or the last word 
in the consciousness of individual man on the Universal 
Mind, they have offered a rational, consistent and all-com- 
prehensive solution of the problem of the "relation of men- 
tality to the general phenomena of the correlation of 
force;" and wider yet, in the amazing sweep of compre- 
hension they posit these activities, the "Tattvas," as operat- 
ing in Nature through Reincarnation. They would not lose 
sight of the self-evident truth that Nature shows no favor 
to the great over the small. Sirius is but a segregated por- 
tion of Cosmic matter, as is the radiant star labeled the 
Centresome (sometimes called "mother star") the one- 
hundredth part of the point of a cambric needle; or the ul- 
timate atom, whether an actual particle of matter or a 
simple vortex of motion "the fifty millionth part of an 
inch" as Lord Kelvin estimates it. The scientist has ceased 
to discriminate between the great and the small. The teles- 
cope seeks out the larger, the microscope the smaller. All 
are dominated by law; all accord to their functions with the 
second postulate of Theosophy; all ebb and flow; all dis- 
appear to reappear; "With the outgoing Breath forms ap- 
pear, with the indrawing Breath forms disappear" is the 
old Eastern teaching. It is the oneness of the Greek con- 
cept, the Theos, not the manifested Zeus. It establishes the 
same thought that the supreme effort of the One is to 
evolve conscious life out of the misnamed "inert material." 
This is by the method of the A U M of the Sanscrit 
Formation, Transformation, Reformation, upon which the 
whole structure of Reincarnation is founded, the three 
working aspects in Nature's great laboratory, and brooded 
over by a higher power above the physical, all emanating 
from the One. 

The religious aspect of the great problem merits some 
attention. The candid and self-investigating pew-worship- 
per asks in good faith: "Why has this great truth been con- 
cealed so long from the religious consciousness? When 

64 



revelation came to us by the church, or by a book or a 
creed, or a ritual and prayer book, why is this all omitted?" 

The Theosophist gladly accepts the challenge to defend 
his position. The fact that a belief in Reincaranation is 
now spreading over Christendom, proves the very heart 
of the doctrine. It is simply reincarnating itself as truth 
once more, in the minds of men, without the aid of paid 
propaganda, or organized institutional support. It was the 
belief of early Christendom. It was afterward anathema- 
tized by the Church then dominant. It was crushed, but 
"Truth crushed to earth will rise again," and this is merely 
stating Reincarnation by an accepted aphorism. 

In the year 553 A. D. at the Council of Constantinople 
the anathema went forth. Please observe the date care- 
fully. It was past the middle of the sixth century, the date 
which Alison's history of Europe assigns for the Dark 
Ages, or Middle Ages, already well set in. The archaeol- 
ogist can restore the thought of that day with astounding 
accuracy of likeness to the original. And this restoration 
is true in its scientific fidelity, as literally true as in the 
restoration of even the humdrum life of old Nippur, 
through the discoveries of Prof. Hilprecht, of the University 
of Pennsylvania; as substantially true as the restoration of 
insect life from the mud deposits of one million or two mil- 
lion years ago, found fossil, engraved, as it were, upon the 
rocks or embedded in their hard mass. 

The social nature of the people of Christendom in the 
year 553, when Theosophists were officially ordered to go 
to hell because of their belief, together with the religious 
consciousness of that date are as open to the archaeologist 
as is the organized structure of an animal or a plant to 
the comparative anatomist. It is as easy to reconstruct the 
then sociological conditions as it was for George Ebers to 
give us a picture of the splendor of Pharaonic times in 
Uarda; or a representation of Egypt under the Persian Em- 
pire, in "The Princess"; or of the Hellenic period under 

6 65 



the Ladiges in " The Sisters," of the early growth 
of Christianity under the Roman Empire in "The 
Emperor," or of the anchorite spirit in the deserts and 
rocks of the Sinatic Peninsula, in "Homo Sum." 

Gregory Nazianzen, a saint, as designated in Church 
terminology, who studied in Athens for ten or twelve years 
(ending in 356) only thirty-one years after the Council at 
Nice, was presiding officer of a Council held in that city. 
This is what he said of the chosen delegates of Christian 
thought at that early, and relatively, that pure period: 

"I have never known an assembly of bishops to termin- 
ate well. They strive only for power. They behave like 
angry lions to the small, and like fawning spaniels to the 
great. It would seem as though a herald had convoked to 
the Council all the gluttons, villains, liars and false swear- 
ers of the Empire. I will never sit in one of these assem- 
blies of cranes and geese/' 

Yet the Council over which he presided was relatively 
respectable compared to the gathering of 553. The Archie- 
ologist discloses a greater decadence in that time than we 
can historically state of Spain's retrogression covering the 
same length of time, of late history. The accelerated speed 
which had characterized the backsliding of spiritual ad- 
visers was shockingly manifest. It was bad enough at the 
first Council, as Dr. Momerie states, "when Constantine him- 
self was disgusted at the conduct of the theologians who 
claimed to be under the immediate control of the Holy 
Ghost. It was worse at a subsequent Council, and on a par- 
allel with the best efforts of modern Tammany, when the 
bishops first on the scene tried to get the vote taken before 
the other bishops could arrive. It was still worse at the 
third of these deliberate assemblies, afterwards nicknamed 
the "Robber Council," when the Right Reverend, the Bishop 
of Constantinople, knocked down and trampled on the 
Right Reverend, the Bishop of Alexandria, and kicked him 
till he died." 



66 



The picture of the later period, 553, for dissoluteness, 
debauchery and filth in personal conduct excelled them all, 
for the environment condoned such actions on the part of 
holy men set apart for religious purposes. It was a matter 
of course, and so established by archaelogical research thac 
they were not only the gluttons and villains and liars Greg- 
ory had dubbed them, but they openly brought to the Coun- 
cil City their mistresses and courtesans, warranted presuma- 
bly by the scriptural record of good and holy men of old 
who had concubines. And this Council served notice offi- 
cially on the Reincarnationists to proceed to hell or abandon 
their belief in the preexistence of souls. For fear that there 
may yet be Theosophists who have not been personally 
served with such notice, the author, without court fee will 
perform the function of deputy: 

"If any one shall teach a fabulous pre-existence of 
souls and the consequence of this, a monstrous restoration 
(or rebirth) let him be accursed." 

To make quite sure that this is the exact wording of 
the anathema, Mr. George M. Coffin, late President of the 
Theosephical Society in Washington, D. C, exhibited a let- 
ter from the Jesuits' College of St. Francis Xavier, of New 
York, giving a translation of the original as above with the 
following in parenthesis: 

"First canon against Origen of the Fifth Oecumenical 
Council, the second of Constantinople, A. D. 553, from Den- 
zinger Enchiridian, p. 73, Niceburgi, 1865." 

Dr. L. Mosheim, in his "Church History," London edi- 
tion, 1819, Vol. II, p. 135, says: "The tenents of Origen which 
gave most offense were: 1. The pre-existence of souls which 
Origen considered as sent into mortal bodies for the pun- 
ishment of sins committed in a former state of being. 2. 
That the torments of the damned will have an end." 

It had been the teaching of Plato a thousand years be- 
fore the gathering at Constantinople. Plato had studied in 

67 



the East. Pythagoras before him disseminated the same 
teaching, and he, too, had traveled East. The atmosphere of 
Alexandria, the seat of the greatest university known at the 
beginning of the Christian era, was surcharged with this 
philosophy which taught Reincarnation as the only con- 
sistent method of accounting for conditions as they ex- 
isted. The students of the Hillel school of Jewish thought 
and the thinkers of the school of Gamaliel deliberated upon 
the plan and proclaimed their belief in it as we can now 
prove by archaeological authority. The thought had entered 
into the Aramaic dialect as is attested by recovered litera- 
ture. Its plausibility had filtered even lo the orthodox 
minds of the peasantry of Palestine as proved by Scripture. 
"When Herod heard of Jesus he said: "It is John the Bap- 
tist whom I beheaded in the prison/' Others said the Naz- 
arene was Elias who had been dead for hundreds of years 
but who&i the peasantry believed would come back. 

Gibbon, the historian, who had followed the trail of this 
thought into the belief of the people, wrote: 

"The Jews were persuaded of the pre-existence, trans- 
migration and in the immortality of souls, and providence 
was justified by a supposition that they were confined in 
their earthly prisons to expiate the stains which they had 
contracted in a former state." 

Cicero alludes to the doctrine frequently, and let it be 
remembered in passing, that Cicero had been initiated into 
the solemn Mysteries and had acquired a knowledge of the 
principles which pervaded the Esoteric philosophy recog- 
nized by the Masters of Wisdom in those guarded retreats, 
or "Lodge-Rooms," as the more modern citizen of our civ- 
ilization would term them. 

Caesar informs us that it was believed in by the Gauls, 
who, he says, in this faith were able to despise death. 

Seven-tenths of the people on the globe believe in it 
now, and the accessions to the ranks of the "Reincarnation- 
ists," as some people in church circles flippantly designate 

68 



them, are amazing both as to number and influence. There 
are thousands of unenrolled Theosophists to one who is on 
the roster, who adhere to it. There are able defenders of 
the principle who know nothing of Theosophy, nor do they 
seemingly care to. The arguments percolate from the press 
in all directions because of the logical necessity of the 
case, that if a soul is to be immortal, it must have preexist- 
ed. A beginning here at birth and an immortality here- 
after as postulated in theology is unthinkable. 

As an instance of the growing importance of the 
thought, Mr. Orlando J. Smith, President of the American 
Press Association, who knew nothing of Theosophy by per- 
sonal study and who had never devoted time to an investi- 
gation of the culture, wrote a book which flooded the mar- 
ket at the small price of 25 cents called "Short Views of 
Great Questions" wherein the logical deduction by inductive 
reasoning made the doctrine of Reincarnation more prac- 
ticable, and more easily thinkable than can be found in the 
published efforts of any Theosophist of our day. 

But a word of caution to the reader of this excellent 
production is in order. Theosophists do not agree with the 
author's idea of transmigration of souls into animals or 
insects. The old doctrine of Metempsychosis was 
elaborated by priestcraft as have many other doc- 
trines been thus formulated for the purpose of 
preying on the minds of the ignorant by force 
of fear. The clear teaching of Theosophy is, that no 
backward course is taken in the orderly trend of evolution. 
Having reached the human estate the progress is as through 
a swing-door which opens but one way. Man having reach- 
ed man's place in Nature takes the stand for weal or woe. 
He is the chooser of his own course. It may be backward or 
forward. He cannot stand still. It is the law of Reversion 
to Type in Nature. And on this principle Drummond 
wrenched a meaning to suit his theological aim, and lost in 

69 



the attempt. It is true that he enunciated a Theosophic 
as well as a true Christian point of view when he stated. 

"If a man neglect himself for a few years he will 
change into a worse man and a lower man. If it is his 
body that he neglects, he will deteriorate into a wild and 
bestial savage — like the de-humanized men who are dis- 
covered sometimes upon desert islands." 

But let it be emphatically understood that Theosophists 
are good to animals. They, too, have souls. The beasts be- 
low us are too good to be condemned to receive the souls of 
de-humanized men. The teaching of the Sages, not the 
priests, held that thoroughly evil human souls bereft of all 
spiritual ties, by atrophy and non-user of privileges through 
repeated reincarnations, extending over a long series of 
milleniums, in order to give the Ego every possible chance, 
to kindle the last glimmering spark of the inner light, are 
doomed to Avitchi, which is a loss of individuality; the loss 
of the stubborn power of permanence; out of tune with the 
Infinite, and resolved back into the whirl of original atoms. 
Nothing is lost. No annihilation, simply a reforming into 
the originating centers of force to pass a long pilgrimage on 
the round of necessity. But the poor animals, themselves 
on the way upward in the course of evolution and soon to 
be men, are not to be inflicted with the most dangerous ele- 
ment in nature, the souls of intellectualized brutes. Apply 
the wise saying of a modern thinker: "The more I see of 
dogs, the less I think of men." 

Where Drummond failed, according to the Theoso- 
phist's point of view, was wherein he stated that which is 
diametrically opposite to the older and purer teaching. He 
makes man come into the world at the start, a depraved be- 
ing. The Theosophist claims that he comes originally and 
always, essentially divine. If he becomes otherwise, it is 
all in the becoming. But let Drummond be heard: 

"The Bible view is that man is conceived in sin and 
70 



shapen in iniquity. (We know that is the Bible view, and 
hence we are Theosophists.) And experience tells him that 
he will shape himself into further sin and ever deepening 
iniquity without the smallest effort, without in the least in- 
tending it, and in the most natural way in the world if he 
simply let his life run." 

The Theosophist holds a different view of the "most 
natural way." Nature put him here in a natural way, and 
if he had conformed to Nature and Nature's laws he would 
have been acting in the "most natural way." It is because 
he acts in an unnatural way that he gets into trouble, and 
as he is self-conscious and possessed of the power of choos- 
ing he must pay the penalty — make his own Karma — his 
effects from causes. A prominent Methodist preacher whose 
name is known over the continent throughout the sphere of 
influence of that denomination said but a few years ago in 
a sermon, justifying the doctrine of total depravity, that 
"babes born into the world are devils in bud." The Theoso- 
phist answers that they are "gods in embryo." The two 
schools cannot function on the same mental plane with such 
fundamental opposites to start from. 

Recurring again to the prevalent misconceptions of 
Theosophic teaching concerning Reincarnation, the indis- 
criminate interchangeability of the words "Transmigration"' 
and "Metempsychosis" need passing notice. When the defi- 
nition of the former was coined years ago, for Webster's 
Dictionary, quoting Sir T. Browne, born 1605, that transmi- 
gration meant: 

"The passage of the soul as an immortal essence at the 
death of the animal body it had inhabited into another liv- 
ing body whether of a brute or a human being," 

the reading world was not as familiar with Sanskrit trans- 
lations as now. It is but three quarters of a century ago 
since able dissertations issued from Christian publishing 
houses declaring that Buddha must have been the Egyptian 

71 



Bull-Apis. Sir William Jones was as equally certain that 
he was no other than the Scandinavian Woden. It is only 
since 1837 that the first translations were made concerning 
Buddhism, by the deciphering of the rock-cut edicts of 
Asoka the Great in Garnar by the archaeologist, James 
Pramsep. In 1844 the first rational, scientific and compre- 
hensive account of the Buddhist religion was published by 
the eminent scholar, Eugene Burnouff. Since then, a long 
list of authorities figure in presenting this old faith each 
from his own point of view, but H. Dharmapala, of Ceylon, 
stated publicly at the World's Parliament of Religions at 
Chicago that to two agencies the better understanding of 
Buddhism is due — Sir Edwin Arnold's incomparable epic, 
"The Light of Asia," and the Theosophical Societies. And 
during the past quarter of a century these Societies have 
had a rigorous task in endeavoring to correct the far-spread 
misconceptions concerning Reincarnation. 

Transmigration and Reincarnation are not synonymous 
terms. Man reincarnates in man only, never to beasts or 
lower orders. 

Metempsychosis, the other variant can be traced by the 
archaeologist to priestly (not prophetic) teaching. The 
Standard Dictionary, relied upon at present by scholarly 
seekers, gives place to this quotation from C. W. Hutson's 
"Beginnings of Civilization": 

"The Hindoos originated and elaborated the doctrine of 
metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls, a sort of 
erratic and morally judicial evolution." 

Degraded Hindoos, crafty priests, it is true, formulated 
such teachings in order to dominate the ignorant, but the 
true Hindoo is, and ever was, far from believing such a 
plan in the cosmic process. Many Christians believe that a 
Jewish brigadier stopped the sun to allow him time for a 
few more whacks at the other fellows, but the cultured citi- 
zen of modern thought would hardly dare confess that he 
believes it, or ever did think it probable. 

72 



The action of the Council at Constantinople deserves in- 
vestigation from another point of view, and one not fre- 
quently alluded to in the brief treatises on reincarnation, 
issued in an argumentative strain, viz., the motive behind 
the action. The subject of the pre-existence of souls had 
been before the church advocates for time long prior. The 
anathema of 553 was considered really the ending of the 
subject, not its beginning. As there cannot be a feud run- 
ning over stretches of time without two parties to the quar- 
rel, so here, the Archaeologist can enter with firm tread. 

Virgilius was Pope, his accession dating 537 A. D. He 
was succeeded two years after the Council by Pelagius I. 
To count backward a hundred years, without giving all the 
Popes in line, we find St. Hilarius ascended to the seat in 
461. That one century is sufficient for the purpose, though 
agitation on the subject is found prior to that date. Large 
bodies move slowly, especially the great corporation em- 
bodied in Roman Catholic symbolism. Organization began, 
practically, with Constantine in 325. The great compromise 
had been fitting itself to conditions, or, as the scientist 
would say, struggling to conform to the new environment. 
The vast machine was in fair lubrication when Hilariu3 
began, but minor questions were always in order and the 
pre-existence of souls was in the category of such questions. 
As an institutional church, more than a means for the bet- 
terment of men's ways, everything must conform to the in- 
stitution. The Roman — the ethnic — impress was over all; 
the State, the institution, was all, the individual nothing. 
Here we strike the dominant key note, the vibrating influ- 
ence which controlled action. An institutional church could 
not live where individuals believed and taught that they 
had lived before; that "each life the outcome of the former 
living is"; that man saves himself by his own effort; that 
priests and mediators have no control over the forever on- 
ward pilgrimage of the soul which was seeking its own per- 

73 



fection, impelled by the great law of Karma, which cared 
nothing for Popes, priests, prelates or councils. 

With this emphatic issue before the contending parties, 
we take this thread to guide us through the maze of war- 
ring words which preceded the curse launched forth in 
that epoch of ignorance that swamped Europe for a thou- 
sand years, sweeping away philosophy and science as so 
much enmity to the great machine. If it could be believed 
that Paul meant it when he said: "Whatsoever a man sows 
that shall he reap," the man— the individuality, is the one 
concerned. If he must come back to earth to do the reap- 
ing, the glittering rewards in the materialistic heaven are 
nullified. Then, as now, serious minds believed that: 

"Who toiled a slave may come anew a Prince 

For gentle worthiness and merit won; 
Who ruled a king may wander earth in rags 

For things done and undone." 

Could it be possible to hold a huge machine together 
with such ideas current? The very delegates to that august 
body might reap in another life their sowing in gluttony by 
starving in the slums. Justice ruled, according to the 
"Reincarnationists" of that day, and it is even now held that 
if priests knew more of justice in the rational procedure of 
the Cosmos, they would crave less for pardon. 

It was believed then, as now, that 

"Within yourselves deliverance must be sought; 
Each man his prison makes," 

and that "Man hath no fate except past deeds. 

"Higher than Indra ye may lift your lot, 
And sink it lower than the worm or gnat; 
The end of many myriad lives is this, 
The end of myriads that." 

The Institutional church was patterned after the Ro- 
man Empire in its administrative and legislative functions. 
Initiative was throttled. All must think the same, as the 

74 



institution orders. Alison, in his History, states that a 
nation that thinks all one way does not think at all. 

And modern theologians of all sects have not improved 
radically from their early conceptions of importance to 
the church as an institution over all. When Mrs. Annie Be- 
sant, the Theosophist, after deserting the church in which 
she was raised (Episcopalian), had floundered in bleak 
materialism, still struggling for a better light, she sought 
the Rev. Dr. Pusey, and said, after a long discussion: "I 
must find out for myself what is true." The Doctor replied: 
"It is not your duty to ascertain the truth. The responsi- 
bility is not yours, so long as you accept what the Church 
has laid down for your acceptance/' 

It was a broad chasm which separated the believers in 
Reincarnation from the theologians who sought to throttle 
them, and the chasm is still unbridged, the reasoning on 
each side is as of old. The deep thinkers who followed the 
teachings of the Sages, the philosophies of Plato, of Pytha- 
goras, of Thales, argued as does the author of "Short Views 
of Great Questions": 

"Justice cannot be built upon a foundation of injustice, 
nor morality upon a foundation of immorality. If God or 
Nature has created one man good and another bad. then 
God or Nature has been unjust. If God or Nature has cre- 
ated a vicious, base or depraved creature, then God or Na- 
ture has been immoral. The creative theory has been the 
blunder of the ages. It has set man wrong in all of his eter- 
nal reckonings. It is as though the whole of our arithmet- 
ical calculation were based on the presumption that one and 
one make three. Justice can be established only upon one 
theory — that the soul of man is pre-existent, and after-exist- 
ent, immortal and eternal. This philosophy alone main- 
tains the responsibility of man, the freedom of man and the 
dignity of the soul of man." 

The writer of the above quotation, as before said, knew 
nothing of Theosophy as a system of thought when he issued 
his remarkable book, but he reasoned for the dignity of the 



75 



soul of man, the individuality, as did the champions who 
were cursed by the institutional church in 553= And his rea- 
soning warrants another selection for the very reason that 
he is not an enrolled Theosophist: 

"Man will forever be what he makes himself. His fol- 
lies and vices are his own; his strength and goodness are 
his own. From the awful responsibility of himself he can- 
not escape. Suicide cannot Kill him; death cannot destroy 
him. No ritual, ceremony, fasting, confession or repentance; 
no imploration, prostration or sacrifice to the gods; no form 
of faith can save him. He has no friend at court; no at- 
torney can appear for him. The Law works silently, con- 
stantly. * * * Man need not grovel or abase himself. 
He is older than the city of Rome, older than the Pyramids, 
older than the Koran or the Bible, older than any book ever 
written or printed, and he will survive them all." 

Let it be understood that the matter of history as set 
forth thus far herein is not an attack upon the Catholic 
Church as we observe it in our day in America. Far from 
it. Theosophists could not, in the face of their proclama- 
tion, that they are in accord with all who seek the better- 
ment of men's ways, ignore the grand and noble departure 
of the modern church, its generous and earnest work for the 
humanities, its establishment of Father Matthew societies 
and its elevated spiritual teaching where educated and lib- 
eral priests have control. As it was but natural from their 
point of view for some of the Christian Fathers to believe in 
Reincarnation, so to-day, we find by observation that many 
Catholics endorse it, and even after the anathema it was not 
stamped out of Catholic Europe, for we trace it to the times 
of Bonaventura and Bregina and to the studious monks of 
all nations. And Christian thought is veering round to the 
very principles upon which Reincarnation is founded, 
even if an effort is made to keep shy of the pivotal essen- 
tial that we come back again and again until perfection is 
reached, as witness the following extract from a sermon 
by the esteemed Cardinal Gibbons: 

76 



"All the works of God have striking characteristics. 
They all have the divine stamp of individuality. There are 
no stars alike in magnitude and splendor, there are no two 
leaves of the forest alike, there are no two grains of sand 
absolutely identical, there are no two human faces alike 
in the vast congregation before me, there are no two dispo- 
sitions in all respects identical. 

"Every one of you is a world to yourself. Every one of 
you has a separate existence and a special destiny. Each of 
you were created alone. You have a separate growth, a sep- 
arate sanctification, a separate death. You are judged alone, 
you are punished alone. You are rewarded alone. There 
is no such thing as a vicarious birth, a vicarious growth, 
a vicarious sanctity, a vicarious death and judgment. Each 
one of you stands on his own foundation. What a man sow- 
eth that shall he also reap." 

"The Jewish Comment" of Baltimore, in publishing 
the above, added: 

"The last paragraph standing by itself would seem pos- 
itively anti-Christian, and certainly enunciates sound Jew- 
ish doctrine." 

The Theosophist will add that it certainly enunciates 
sound Theosophic doctrine, and serves to show the trend of 
thought of our great men. But those words could not have 
been uttered without protest at Constantinople in 553 A. D. 

Resuming, now, the processes by which life can succeed 
life on this earth by re-birth. The most familiar object les- 
son given to children of the East is that of a thread, which 
stands for the continuity of existence— the individuality. 
On this endless chain are strung beads, each one represent- 
ing a separate life, a distinct personality. The thread is 
the immortal self, the Reincarnating Ego; the beads the 
personalities, the masks, the outer covering of matter. The 
experience of each bead is assimiliated by the thread. It is 
the continuous entity that returns, life after life, to form 
new beads to form new coats of skin. At each return it 
is drawn,by natural affinity/ to the race, family and environ- 
ment suitable to itself; these forces in the plane of subjec- 



77 



tive chemistry working as definitely and surely as they do 
on the physical plane. 

Does this conception do violence to scientific thought? 
Throw an acid into a standpipe tank of a hundred thous- 
and gallons capacity, and let each gallon represent a solu- 
tion of a thousand alkaline bases, and the acid will select 
that one, even if in the remotest corner at the bottom, and 
that particular one only for which it has the greatest affin- 
ity. Does not Science postulate " orderly flying of atoms? 
The Theosophist simply believes that these small dynamic 
vortices are guided by the Great Intelligence, the Great 
Breath, and with the further insistence that they are 
a part of it; possessing the same intelligence, in kind, but 
not in degree, with potencies of more complex manifesta- 
tions. When atoms group into molecules, the same rational 
order is observed. Each goes to its own. Each holds its 
own. Can we expect a paradox — that a Humboldt as a 
power of permanence, because possessed of marked reality, 
should seek affinity with a power almost wasted by atrophy, 
by non-user of faculties? Humboldt himself stated a broad 
truth which can be here appropriated: "Only what we have 
wrought into character during life, can we take away with 
us." What else could he expect to take? The force of the 
statement is apparent. The power "wrought" suggests the 
hammering into solidity by his own effort the experience of 
his own life. He had earned it by effort — the great law in 
evolutionary activity. It was his own; he and none other 
had any moral right to carry it over. Chance is eliminated. 
Voltaire had an insight into the justice of Nature's work- 
ings: 

"I have consumed forty years of my pilgrimage * * * 
seeking the philosopher's stone called truth. I have consult- 
ed all the adepts of antiquity, Epicurus and Augustine, Pla- 
to and Malebranche, and I still remain in ignorance. All 
that I have been able to obtain by comparing and combining 
the system of Plato, of the tutor of Alexander, Pythagoras 

78 



and the Oriental, is this — Chance is a word devoid of sense. 
The world is arranged according to mathematical laws." 

We have heard it said that what we are at the end of 
this life we shall be when the next begins. Could we expect 
that we should be something different? Plotinus amplified 
the reasoning of his day on this line and summed it up as 
quoted often by Theosophists: "The soul at death becomes 
that power which it has most developed." It became that 
power by the process of becoming, by individual effort. It 
persists because of the power developed. And Emerson ac- 
centuated the thought in one of his epigramatic flashes: 

"He who would be a great soul m future, must be a 
great soul now." And again : "As we are so we associate. 
The good by affinity seek the good; the vile by affinity, the 
vile." 

Why multiply quotations? There are exhaustive treat- 
ises on the one topic — Reincarnation, in the libraries. A 
recent canvass of the Professors in the chairs of the 144 col- 
leges of India shows nearly a unanimous assent in the doc- 
trine. A similar canvass of teachers in the institutions of 
learning in all other countries (including the Sufi Profess- 
ors in Mohammedan colleges) exhibits an amazing prepon- 
derance in its favor, the German and French conspicuously 
so, and in the United States where chairs are held in con- 
formity to the sectarian bias of the institutions there are 
found many who desire that their names be not quoted but 
who confidentially assert that this ancient thought is re- 
viving in our consciousness and that it can be safely admit- 
ted that instead of working injury to conduct in life, it 
would foster motives that would act as corrective to many 
of the senseless predicates of dogma and creed. 

For an elementary study, and for logical reasoning on 
the merits of the case, "Short Views of Great Questions" be- 
fore referred to excels all, and it may again be enforced by 
adding that its greatest merit is owing to its disinterested 

79 



traverse of the theme, the author being outside of the cul- 
ture. 

The question is frequently asked, "Why do we not re- 
member our past lives?" The sages teach, and to good pur- 
pose, that soul memory of the individual is not the brain 
memory of the personality, and they add that it is a bless- 
ing to humanity that we do not remember in detail. It is 
even taught in the Occult Science: "Kill in thyself all mem- 
ory of past experiences." This is better teaching than that 
which implores the already burdened mind to "weep over 
past sins," in more practical parlance to "cry over spilt 
milk." Nil desperandum is the clarion blast from the 
teachers of the ages. The effects of past lives are registered 
in the Individuality and a vibratory thrill or current can 
awaken these registered points as naturally and as easily 
as the voice can be reproduced a thousand miles away and 
a hundred years from now, from the almost invisible dots 
on the cylinder of a phonograph. The voice itself was not 
preserved on that small drum; but the power is there and 
registered, to reproduce the spoken words when swept by a 
vibration which will awaken the tones of old. 

Here the questioner interposes another problem: "If 
the persisting Individuality — this Reincarnating Ego as you 
call it, gets back to earth by rebirth, what law of Nature do 
you quote; what gravitating force pulls it back?" 

To answer this consistently with our view of Cosmic 
processes according to the Sages, let it be stated again that 
the Individuality does not "get back to earth" for the rea- 
son that it never left the earth. A change of condition, a 
transformed state, a supersensuous (not a supernatural) 
modification of consciousness does not of necessity demand 
a separate place, another world, an outside pool, an up-aloft 
reservoir. The sphere of influence, the magnetic field, the 
zone of odic force, or the Aura, as you choose, of this globe 
holds its own, and all of its own, and its diameter surround- 

80 



ing the dense ball is very great according to Eastern Phys- 
ics. The Oversoul contains all souls as parts of itself, and the 
laws governing the parts are its own, but it need not logic- 
ally follow that centers of intellect, will, energy and power 
of self developed Egos, which in their individual totalities 
contain attributes of character rather than physical atoms, 
need to have assigned to them forms of energy which are 
usually classified under the broad generalization of Science 
as the Correlation of Forces. Gravitation as part of a great 
law may be applied to entities listed as material, but attri- 
butes do not come under such inductive research. 

So, following the solution of this profound problem, as 
taught by the wise men of old, Desire, the dominating force 
which controlled the Ego, will still hold it and hold it until 
the all controlling force is refined or exhausted. Therefore 
Desire causes the rebirth; its own desire, and not the de- 
sire of any other than its own; not blind force, or fate, or 
chance. Each goes to its own; each comes to its 
own. Each belongs by law to its own. A single 
life on earth, one half spent in sleep, and nearly one 
third in development from the babe to strong consciousness 
does not appear to the Theosophist as sufficient to exhaust 
experience on the plane of Desire, even at its lower rate of 
vibration, its denser form, through which most of mankind 
are at present functioning. 

''The Second Truth is Sorrow's Cause. What grief 
Springs of itself, and springs not of Desire? 

Senses and things perceived mingle and light 
Passion's quick spark of fire: 

So flameth Trishna, lust and thirst of things, 
Eager ye cleave to shadows, dote on dreams; 

A false Self in the midst ye plant, and make 
A world around which seems; 

So grow the strifes and lusts which make earth's war, 
So grieve poor cheated hearts and flow salt tears; 



7 



SI 



So wax the passions, envies, angers, hates; 
So years chase blood-stained years 

And drugged with poisonous drinks the soul departs, 
And fierce with thirst to drink Karma returns; 

Sense-struck again the sodden self begins, 
And new deceit it earns." 

If the pulling power of Desire which calls the individ- 
uality to an awakening again on the physical plane by re- 
birth seems an enigma to a certain class of Scientific think- 
ers, let it be remembered that in their text-books on chemi- 
cal energy, we are compelled to admit that attraction and 
affinity are both psychical names for forces of which exact 
science is agnostic as to their essential nature and origin. 
Professor Otswald, of the University of Liepsic, allows free- 
dom of thought on all lines pertaining to the unseen by 
stating : 

"The more perfect the theoretical evolution of the sci- 
ences becomes, the greater will be the scope of their expla- 
nations, and at the same time the greater their practical 
importance. " 

It is therefore as legitimate to reason upon the attrac- 
tion and affinity of great passions, sublime purposes, singu- 
lar pursuits and pinings for baffled longings, as it is to 
cover pages with speculations on molecular and atomic mo- 
tions, stored and kinetic energies. These and similar terms 
have no life, no warmth, no real meaning for the mind of 
man unless they are "filled with the blood which an inter- 
pretative imagination supplies," as Prof. Ladd of Yale Uni- 
versity puts it. And the same eminent authority declares 
in his "Philosophy of Knowledge": 

"But if Science means knowledge then it is necessarily 
not of the merely subjective, but of the trans-subjective too; 
and the logically established system of existing beings, ac- 
tual forces and real relations conceived of as occurring in 
time and space, and so forming necessary conditions of all 
human experience is the transcendant." 

82 



The above quotation is thrown in because it is well to 
inform some readers that Theosophists have been content 
hitherto with dealing in terms merely of the subjective as 
opposed to the objective; but when the trans-subjective is 
postulated oy a distinguished Yale Professor of Psychology, 
the odium hitherto cast on us for transcendentalism is wo- 
fully weakened. 

There yet remains to be considered the necessity of 
choice of the three schools of thought now contending for 
position. 

1. The orthodox idea that man was made from nothing, 
but begins to inherit immortality from birth. 

2. The materialistic declaration of cellular transmission: 
all came from an original cell, and generation succeeds gen- 
eration through the cells. 

3. The Eastern philosophy which stands for the immortal- 
ity of the soul, the individuated portion of the Great Over- 
soul, and its persistence by reincarnation. 

The latter is gaining over the first two even in their 
strongholds. The cellular transmission theory is weakening 
with the development of newer light in other branches of 
scientific research. As for the first — the orthodox theory, it 
is simply ruled out of court by ail thinking men. 

A quotation from a Christian minister, Rev. James 
Freeman Clarke (Unitarian) will express the thought prev- 
alent at this time in many sincere minds: 

"It would be curious if we should find science and phi- 
losophy taking up again the old theory of metempsychosis, 
remodeling it to suit our present modes of religious and sci- 
entific thought, and launching it again on the wide ocean 
of human belief. But stranger things have happened in the 
history of human opinion." 

An inquirer asks to be cited to a declaration by Emer- 
son on this topic. There are many of them, but the follow- 
ing covers his personal belief: 

"We must infer our destiny from the preparation. We 

83 



are driven by instinct to hive innumerable experiences 
which are of no visible value, and we may revolve through 
many lives before we shall assimilate or exhaust them:' 

An interesting phase of the doctrine of Reincarnation 
is noticeable in the points of contact exhibited by the ar- 
chaeologists now in the far East bringing to light aspects 
of former civilizations, which have disappeared only to re- 
appear and disappear again, cities under cities. Here is an 
extract from a letter to Biblia, a magazine devoted to ar- 
chaeological research: 

"Undoubtedly similarities exist between the works of 
archaic Greek art and those of Egypt and the East. But 
we always have to ask ourselves, in this case as well as in 
others when such similarities are made the ground for far- 
reaching conclusions, whether the similarities are not due 
to the likeness in the phase of civilization attained by the 
several peoples all of whom are possessed of the same na- 
ture in the physiological and psychological constitution of 
their powers, both of perception and of creation. " 

This point is not new in scientific thought; it has been 
touched frequently by students of anthropology and strong 
reasoning defends the position that contact or touch need 
not be set up as a plea that one necessarily borrowed from 
the other. Then the borrowing must be from the universal 
mind which enables the various peoples, on account of "the 
likeness in the phase of civilization attained," to produce 
similarities, to become possessed of "the same nature in the 
physiological and psychological constitution of their pow- 
ers, both of perception and of creation. " 

For this very reason, Theosophists, who have kept pace 
with the reasoning of the best anthropologists, assert that 
to-day in America, Grecian thought which was suffocated by 
dogmatic Christendom is reincarnating because in our utter 
freedom we have attained to just that phase of civilization 
which can naturally produce similarities. 

Egyptian thought is noticed also, as our free and un- 
hampered thinking is allowed sway. Take an instance: a 

84 



few years ago a single line of hieroglyphics found engraved 
in cold stone separated scholars into two camps because of 
the translations. One insisted that the six characters stood 
for "The manifestation of light," the other equally as obsti- 
nate declared the rendering proper — "The awakening of the 
soul." The war of words ceased when our phase of civilized 
thought had attained to such a likeness of the old that we 
could read them both in the higher sense; they mean the 
same thing in ancient Egyptian philosophy, and a later in- 
terpretation is found in the phrase — "An Awakening to the 
Reality." 

Follow this aspect to the time of Arius the Lybian. 
The Council at Nicea threw him down, for he was literally 
on top. Unthinkable propositions in the procedure of the 
Universe were set up and held prestige through centuries 
of darkness and superstition. But the thought of Arius the 
Unitarian reincarnates again when a phase of civilization 
is reached which will allow a likeness to be reproduced. 
Will any thinker care to dispute the fact that the Unitarian 
faith to-day is of paramount influence among the most faith- 
ful of the reverent scholars? 

A step later; will any researcher for truth fail to see 
that the seven points on which Pelagianism was condemned 
by the church in the Fifth Century are reincarnating again 
in the "liberal" thought of a more scientific Christendom? 

Later yet, the burning of Bruno at the stake four hun- 
dred years ago did not crush the truth; his teachings are 
now very much in evidence, and as for the earlier Neo-Pla- 
tonic teaching of Ammonius Saccas, Plotinus, and a long 
line of illustrious philosophers, it is markedly promient in 
all the new thought of this epoch; simply reincarnating. 

Nor has scientific thought escaped the pressure of the 
same rigid law. The discussions at the present time on the 
ultimate atom by the two opposing schools, are but reincar- 
nations of the old controversy between the followers of De- 

85 



mocritus of the materialistic trend, and Anaxagoras of the 
more elevated and sublime teaching. The latter will be bet- 
ter understood when a phase of enlightened thought shall 
manifest itself in the ultra-specialized school. It all tends 
to prove that states of consciousness are alike when civiliza- 
tion reaches a like plane, without touch or contact, and the 
Theosophist further alleges that such states of conscious- 
ness will reincarnate only when the conditions have become 
favorable to that phase which will allow a likeness to be 
reproduced. No archaeologist expects to find an Emerson 
manifest in the flesh during the Dark Ages. It required 
light, and a strong effulgence to admit such a state of con- 
sciousness to reincarnate. He proved to be nearer the plane 
of Plato. Nor would we expect to find an Edison domiciled 
next door to a Torqueniada. 

Therefore, it is consistent in the logic of a Theosophist 
to claim that there comes a time when the whole mass of 
Egos, which built up the splendor of ancient Egypt, and the 
"glory that was Greece," leave their already exhausted life 
experiences to seek fresh pilgrimages on the path to devel- 
opment toward the Perfect Man, brought about by Reincar- 
nation, impelled by the Law of Karma, the three really es- 
sential tenets in Theosophic teaching. 

^ The category of sects so laboriously tabulated by Renan 
as existing at the beginning of the Christian era, are in 
evidence in the differentiations of religious faiths in this 
land of free thought, and properly so, under the law of 
Karma, using Reincarnation as a method to exhaust all De- 
sire on its plane. When Desire has been vanquished new 
Karma will be set up by as natural a cause. 

The rich upon whom the curses of the poor are hurled 
are subservient to the same law. Divide all the wealth of 
the world to-day, and to-morrow the rich will be rich be- 
cause of the law. It is the stewardship of riches that is 

86 



brought to book by Karma, not the mere act of possessing 
them. 

"What hath been bringeth what shall be, and is, 
Worse — better — last for first and first for last." 
. . After sufficient experience on the plane of grasping de- 
sire, the avarice of greed will be transmuted by an alchemy 
that never deceives. There is the testimony of the ages by 
the sages that there comes a time when the wail is intoned 
— "all is vanity." Reincarnation is the only logical method 
.known to the Theosophist by which this experience can be 
exhausted. 

87 



CHAPTER VI. 



KARMA. 

Only the latest dictionaries have the word Karma. 
Webster and Worcester had stereotyped their plates years 
before this significant Sanscrit term appeared in our litera- 
ture. The Standard Dictionary lists it, with the definition: 

An act; the effect of any act, religious or otherwise; the 
law of ethical causation regulating the future life; the inev- 
itable retribution: an idea of Brahmanic origin, but devel- 
oped by the Buddhists." 

The following quotation is annexed to further elaborate 
the idea, taken from "Eastern Monachism" by R. Spence 
Hardy: 

"The supreme power is Karma, the merit and demerit 
of intelligent existence. It is this that controls all things, 
sometimes acting in an aggregate capacity, as in the general 
economy of the universe; but more clearly seen in the ef- 
fects it produces upon the individual being. From its con- 
sequences there is no escape." 

Theosophical literature has enlarged the signification 
of the term until an apprehension of its awful meaning is 
felt in every domain of thought. It has become a convenient 
word expressing in an intuitional flash the whole import of 
the last clause in the paragraph from Spence Hardy; "From 
its consequences there is no escape." 

If the word itself has been absent from our terminology, 
its central idea has been emphatically apparent. The cul- 
tured Greek with a lofty sense of justice, (and Karma al- 

88 



ways demands exact justice,) expressed its scope of action 
when he exclaimed: "The mills of the gods grind slowly 
though they grind exceeding fine"; but the soul force in 
this classic phrase was not more strenuously put than by 
the plantation darkey who believed in ultimate justice and 
cried with bitter emphasis — "He's sho' gwine to get his 
come-uppins." And do we not in our innermost being really 
believe that the persistent offender will at some time be 
brought suddenly to book when we say that "he will get his 
honest dues." Many there are, who attempt to believe when 
in a downward course that luck will favor them; they will 
not be found out. The law of Karma allows no escape from 
consequences, and as to this easing of conscience, Emerson 
said: "Shallow men believe in luck; strong men believe in 
cause and effect." 

Occasionally a few insist upon Karma as being the law 
of Ethical Causation; both mean in the end the 
same. Both pertain to this world, and a violation 
of law on either plane brings its Karmic results, 
whether formulated with the nicety of rhetoric or as spon- 
taneously put — "chickens will come home to roost"; all 
pointing to the deep truth in the familiar text — "Whatso- 
ever a man soweth that shall he also reap." A greater sig- 
nificance is attached when it is found by critical research 
that every scripture known to man of any race, age, or clime 
has this central truth couched in the same epigram- 
matic form, all a warning that "your sins will find you out," 
and equally does the action of the great law register merit 
as well as demerit; "cast thy bread upon the waters, and it 
shall return" is another truism traced to every scripture 
thus far found and translated. "Give, that ye may receive," 
said the gentle Nazarene, and the same inspired teaching 
was given by all the Great Teachers, thousands of years be- 
fore the Christ was set up as a new Ideal. 

Christianity not only recognizes the essential scope of 

89 



Karma, but preaches it constantly, and to the credit of many 
of its modern teachers, most effectively. The reaping from 

the former sowing has become a logical sequence even if 
the word Karma is tabooed, because of pagan origin. 

Nevertheless, the orthodox Christian and the Theoso- 
phist part company when in search of the harvest field. The 
latter believes that the reaping must be done where the seed 
was cast in sowing time. Oats sown on last year's stubble 
field cannot oe reaped in some imaginary park located some- 
where beyond the clouds. The earth is for the Theosophist; 
"sweet fields arrayed in living green" beyond an ethical Jor- 
dan, are for the too materialistic Christian. And this point 
raised may correct another error quite prevalent, that The- 
osophists "live in the clouds, beyond the stars. " Never was 
a greater misconception of Theosophic thought uttered or 
written. The Theosophist is of this earth; he believes he 
has lived many lives here; will live many more until per- 
fection is gained. Even then, as the Perfect Man, he does 
not leave the world; his mission under the great Law of 
Compassion is to help others to rise. Hence the loftiness of 
the teaching. Heaven is not a place; it is a state, a condi- 
tion. It can be here better than far away. Deity is here 
and everywhere; no more elsewhere than here. The same 
law prevails over the universe. Heaven is here if we make 
it; hell is here. 

The easy-going orthodox pew-worshipper tells us that 
all this sounds plausible but he would like a parallel in the 
processes of Nature to make the conception clear. He is 
confused on the one point that all can be on this globe. 
There must be other places better. The Theosophist bewil- 
ders him by having so many Planes and Principles operat- 
ing here. Our answer is that they operate everywhere alike. 

One of the concrete lessons given to illustrate the meth- 
od by which the mind can grasp the fundamental ideas is an 
exemplification borrowed from one of the earlier lessons of 

90 



the school. Pill a barrel with apples. There is void space 
between them for another Plane of manifestation. Throw in 
marbles; the barrel is filled again after thorough shaking. 
So two things seemingly occupy the same space; two Planes 
in short, acting under two Principles. Now throw in shot; 
it is filled the third time. Follow with mustard seed; it is 
full once more. Pour in water which is molecular, though 
harder to hold in the tightened grasp of the hand than the 
mustard seed. Fill again with alcohol by pressure, and let 
it be hoped that no irreverent allusion will be made when 
we say that the barrel is now surely full. It is not; chemis- 
try comes to aid, and molecular gases of finer vibration can 
be diffused. The all pervading ether, finer yet, will have its 
place in the interstices, and again the pure Akasa of the 
Eastern thought is finer far than the finest forces that in- 
terplay, finer than electricity, or magnetism which is high- 
er. The end is not reached, for all things mentioned are on 
the physical Plane, on the Plane of Fohat — the Eastern 
term for that boundless energy so prevalent in modern sci- 
ence. Beyond Fohat, is Mahat, which includes mind and all 
its attributes. The Psychical constituents here enter into 
the combination. There is room for all; more planes, upon 
which more Principles function. Each atom, to the fifty 
millionth part of an inch (again quoting Lord Kelvin) is 
surrounded with a psychical sphere of influence, its magnet- 
ic field, its aura, or its odic force, or any other term at the 
pleasure of the thinker. The soul force, the "go" of it all, can 
find ample room for its subtle power; and the all pervading 
Spirit can brood over all; interpenetrate all, suffuse all. No 
two particles have yet anywhere touched; they can all 
bathe in the same great ocean of Spirit; each independent 
on its own plane; yet all co-ordinating. 

Is this reasoning strained to a point tangible only in 
Oriental imagination? Take a modern authority for it. 
Prof. Jevons in discussing the scientific probability of bodies 
passing through each other says: 

91 



" 'Solidity' is a mere sensuous illusion. When a rhythm 
favors, bodies can pass freely through each other. For any- 
thing that we can know to the contrary there may be right 
here and now, passing through us, and this world, some 
planet invisible to us, with mountains, oceans, lakes, rivers, 
cities and inhabitants." 

Dr. Young also suggests that there "are worlds, per- 
haps pervading each other, unseen and unknown, in the 
same space." The Theosophist would use the word Planes, 
instead of worlds. 

Prof. Du Bois in an address before the Bridgeport Sci- 
entific Society said : 

"We admit as a physical fact, that at least within cer- 
tain undefined limits in our organism, matter obeys will, 
and brain particles move at the impulse of volition.' Now, 
molecules, the physicist tells us, are separated by spaces 
indefinitely great as compared to the size of the molecules 
themselves, and these spaces are filled with ether, which 
condenses around the molecules like the atmosphere of the 
earth. Within the limits of the cranium, then, we may con- 
ceive of a whole solar system in miniature. The whole 
great Universe with its suns and systems is represented in 
those tiny, whirling, moving brain particles. Now upon 
one of these little brain particles separated by an immense 
relative distance from its neighbors, let us imagine a race 
of tiny, intelligent beings like ourselves to live. One of 
these little homuncules looks off from his tiny earth with 
his tiny telescope as we do from ours and observes motions 
and bodies moving hither and thither." 

And many more authorities eminently scientific can be 
quoted to sustain the one point here sought to be made 
plain — that all forces that act anywhere else in the Uni- 
verse, act here. The Universality of Law, one of the cardinal 
tenets of Theosophy demands that all places are ruled by 
the Supreme Intelligence alike. And even this Great All 
is in and around every atom of its own evolution, or mani- 
festation, or emanation, or creation, as the reader may 
choose. 

It is true that there is an easy letting down of some of 



92 



the old theological teaching which controverted law, for in- 
stance wherein the sun went round the earth in the dog- 
matic teaching of Christendom by the saints, but the earth 
went round the sun as taught by sinners. But there are 
strange conceptions yet lingering in the minds of preachers, 
notably one, the most widely advertised of them all who de- 
livered a sermon in Washington not many months ago, 
claiming to prove that our world, "the smallest of them all," 
was selected as the theatre for sin and sorrow as an awful 
example to others. For the benefit of our astronomers who 
do not rush to hear Talmage, nor have they officially credit- 
ed him as the envoy extraordinary of the Great First Cause: 

"Why did God let sin and sorrow come into the world 
when He could have prevented them from coming? I wish 
reverently to say I think I have found the reason. To keep 
the Universe loyal to a Holy God, it was important in some 
world somewhere to demonstrate the gigantic disasters 
that would come upon any world that allowed sin to enter. 
Which world should it be? Well, the smaller the world the 
better, for less members would suffer. So our world was 
selected. The stage was plenty large enough for the enact- 
ment of the tragedy. Although we know comparatively little 
about the other worlds, lest we become completely dissatis- 
fied with our own, no doubt the other worlds have heard, 
and are now hearing all about this world in the awful ex- 
periment of sin which the human race has been making." 

The last dozen words only in this strange medley of 
conjecture are worthy of notice by the Theosophist, "the 
awful experiment of sin which the human race has been 
making." If there is such a thing as sin, the human race 
surely made it, and the human race will reap from its own 
sowing, as a human race. The law of Karma applies to race, 
nation, family and individual; joint effects lead back to 
joint causes; individual effects to individual causes; all ef- 
fects to cause; all demanding observance of law; that things 
out of equilibrium are constrained to reach exact adjust- 
ment. Nature's law is forever operating to bring about 



93 



equilibrium — exact justice, and to an exactness which does 
not allow in the scales a favor for an atom, if such there 
be, of the "fifty-millionth part of an inch." 

Yet there is teaching abundant that will allow a mur- 
derer to be washed clean by some mystical eclesiastical 
passes at the last moment of a long and brutal life, and to 
add to the injustice, he is through-ticketed to Paradise on 
schedule time. The Theosophist prefers to accept the so- 
called heathen, or pagan, teaching. 

"Also it issues forth to help or hurt, 
When Death the bitter murderer doth smite, 

Red roams the unpurged fragment of him, 
On wings of plague and blight/' 

and the unpurged fragments still roaming on wings of 
plague and blight, when critically studied in the light of a 
developing Psychology in the West and an older system of 
thought in the East, will account for man's own making of 
woe, here, if anywhere. And the opposite is equally true in 
the teaching of this old school which has brought consola- 
tion to many inquiring, investigating minds: 

"But when the mild and just die, sweet airs breathe, 

The world grows richer, as if desert stream 
Should sink away to sparkle up again 

Purer, with broader gleam. 
"So merit winneth the happier age 

Which by demerit halteth short of end; 
Yet must this Law of Love reign king of all 

Before the Kalpas end." 

These Kalpas are the intervals of time between the man- 
ifesting and the disappearance of a world; cycles; periods 
of inbreathing and outbreathing, a moment, as we count 
time, for the ephemeral insect life; billions of years for a 
world life; both attuned to the same Great Breath. The law 
of Karma rules alike in both. 

Some of the vagueness now current may be removed if 
a clear distinction is kept in mind between Karma and 



94 



Kismet. Both are quoted as Oriental in derivation, but they 
are not the same. The Mohammedan believes in Kismet; 
appointed lot, fate. It came down on Semitic lines. It is 
dominant now, where Arabian thought expands. F. Marion 
Crawford is usually quoted from his Paul Patoff: "Even 
Pate, the universal Kismet, procrastinates in Turkey." A 
traditional fascination seems to percolate through the 
masses everywhere even to the sentimental maiden of our 
own civilization who asks the jeweler to engrave on her 
wedding ring: "Kismet," the idea uppermost in her mind 
being that what is to be, must be; cold, uncalculating, even 
uncaused destiny; simply the lot by dice thrown from the 
foundation of the heavens and earth. The Arabs have an 
extensive and fascinating literature to this day as did a cer- 
tain following in Chaldean thought centuries before Abra- 
ham was born. The archaeologist and the philologist 
find abundant traces of it in the old traditions of the Semit- 
ic nations, while Karma, which is not fatalism, had its ori- 
gin as now traced, in the thought of the Aryan peoples. 

From a strictly archaeological point of view, it will not 
be a loss of effort to follow the trail down, for that mon- 
strous piece of Calvinism (first outlined by Augustine), the 
doctrine of predestination, can be better understood. Kis- 
met, or fate, pure and simple, was embedded in Arabian 
thought before the advent of Mahomet. The dogmatic 
school which followed the spread of the Koran was as much 
at variance with the higher philosophical thought as is 
superficial Christendom now at odds with Herbert Spencer, 
or Emerson, or Goethe. This can clearly be established by 
the researcher who explores into the broad consistent think- 
ing of the Sufis, the learned esoteric professors in many of 
the Mohammedan colleges, disciples of the old Chaldean 
culture. They derive much of their philosophy from their 
ancient sages; called the Arifs, corresponding to the Rishis 
of India; the Achi-u of Egypt. 

95 



Let the student note carefully that John Calvin, of the 
Geneva School, did not manifest as a teacher until he re- 
turned in triumph to that city in 1541 after vicissitudes 
that were anything but encouraging. Yet the Moors cap- 
tured Cordova in 672 A. D. and rebuilt it, so that before its 
fall in 1236 it contained nearly a million inhabitants and 
300 mosques, where the doctrine of Kismet, or fate, was 
dominant. During these centuries the industrious Caliphs, 
with their labor guilds and societies had overrun Europe, 
spreading their peculiar philosophical precepts. Is it any 
surprise, therefore, to the archaeologist to find the diffusion 
of this doctrine everywhere from Spain to Bagdad? Geneva 
got its share of it. It was mixed in the dough for the new 
baking. John Calvin's teachings show the effect of it. Pre- 
destination will be better understood by the young Presby- 
terian theologues when they can spread along side of com- 
piled Calvinism, the thought that daily and yearly precipi- 
tated from 672 to 1541 A. D. It must be reckoned with. The 
Theosophist has been diligent in comparing notes on this 
line. The educated Arabians, the guardians of the old Chal- 
dean esoteric lore, have fraternally rendered aid in the ex- 
ploration. A new light is thrown on Calvanistic Predesti- 
nation. The "great theologian" as he is called observed but 
half the law, one aspect of it, (so say the students of the 
East,) even on the Kismet side. The Karma aspect was ut- 
terly ignored. The great Jehovah of John Calvin is thus 
left in a bad plight. Calvinism, according to the Eastern 
reasoner, would not even dignify the new ideal of divinity 
with the generosity of a modern gambler who will act 
"square," at least. It made tne ruling power worse, more 
severe than the ultimate of Kismet. It settled all without 
even the small consolation of a lucky throw. It killed hope 
effectually. It foreordained, whether or no! It was by de- 
cree. Here is the language, at which even a pagan wor- 
shipper recoils, and no religious faith thus far found by the 

96 



student of comparative religions can be matched with It 
for fanatical fury in design: 

"By the decree of God and for the manifestation of his 
glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto ever- 
lasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death." 

"These angels and men thus predestinated and foreor- 
dained are particularly and unchangeably designed." 

Mark the cruelty which staggers the pagan (?) students 
in the 144 colleges of India! Yet from worse to worse : 
"and their number is so certain and definite that it cannot 
be either increased or diminished. * * * As God hath 
appointed the elect to glory, neither are any other re- 
deemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, and 
sanctified and saved, but the elect only." 

The last clause has a ring of Kismet, but the first part 
of the paragraph shows the interblending of Jehovistic, 
with Chaldean doctrine, transplanted by Arabian thinkers 
on Teutonic mythology. The fulness of this abnormal men- 
tal growth is not realized until another paragraph is di- 
gested : 

"The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the 
unsearchable counsel of his will, whereby he extendeth or 
withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sov- 
ereign power over his creatures, to pass by, and to ordain 
them to dishonor and wrath for their sin to the praise of 
his glorious justice." 

Primitive Shamanism as thus far brought to light by 
the archaeologist is not so frightfully cruel. A deity that 
would deliberately "ordain his creatures to dishonor and 
wrath to the praise of his glorious justice" is an ideal fitted 
to that cast of mind which Science labels — "psychically in- 
sane." 

Karma knows neither wrath nor pardon. It stands for 
justice; exact, to all; not the elect to the abandonment of 
the non-elect. 

"It maketh and unmaketh, mending all; 

What it hath wrought is better than hath been; 



8 



97 



Slow grows the splendid pattern that it plans 
Its wistful hands between." 

It knows not wrath nor pardon; utter true 
Its measures mete, its faultless balance weighs; 
Times are as nought, to-morrow it will judge, 

Or after many days. 

By this the slayer's knife did stab himself; 

The unjust judge hath lost his own defender; 
The false tongue dooms its lie; the creeping thief 

And spoiler rob, to render. 

Such is the Law which moves to righteousness, 
Which none at last can turn aside or stay; 

The heart of it is Love, the end of it 

Is Peace and Consummation sweet. Obey!" 

The difficulty which besets the beginner in Theosophic 
study is the failure to draw a clear line between Karma and 
Kismet. This ought to be simple if the student will remem- 
ber that his individual Karma is predestined to the extent 
only that he must experience the effects of causes set up by 
himself in his own past lives. In the very act of going 
through this experience he is learning that a new path for 
the future is more profitable than the old beaten track. The 
moment a new path is chosen with new purpose in life, des- 
tiny, fate, lot, Kismet, are broken. What was to be by pre- 
destination is changed by after destination; in other words 
new Karma is set up. The very result is a beginning, and 
a beginning, by the mere mention of the thought kills the 
power of Kismet. What was to be, by fate, cannot be, be- 
cause man, the Thinker, says it shall not be. Man thus be- 
comes the arbiter of his destiny; the architect of his for- 
tune. "I will be what I will to be." Kismet has its rigid 
hard beaten rut, but man need not choose it. There is an- 
other path open to him when he desires. Even if suffering 
in physical pain because of deeds done in past lives, his he- 
roic effort to overcome makes him rise on these "stepping 
stones of his dead self to higher things." 

98 



"Far hath he gone who treads down one fond offense." 
Thus, new causes being set up. new effects must ensue. 
This is the generation of new Karma. 

"The Books say well, my Brothers! Each man's life 

The outcome of his former living is; 

The bygone wrongs bring forth sorrows and woes, 

The bygone right breeds bliss. 

That which ye sow ye reap." 

"The old sad count is clear, the new is clean; 

Thus hath a man content. 

Make golden stairways of your weakness; rise 
By daily sojourn with those phantasies 
To lovelier verities." 

When the Theophist reiterates, as he frequently doe.~, 
that Karma in the operation stands for Justice, the theolo- 
gical hair-splitter demands that we make room somewhere 
in our thought for compassion, for mercy. No more lofty 
exposition of these opposite poles was ever given than by 
the Sages. If the stern exactness of Justice is to be in- 
sisted upon, who would, who could, stand? The Psalmist 
fully understood this. But if Mercy was to rule without 
Justice, who would care to stand? In either predicament, 
the economy of the Cosmos would be lopsided. The equil- 
librium of the six-pointed star of India and Egypt, the in- 
terlaced triangles, seen engraved on modern synagogues 
and on the window curtains of the halls of the Thirty-Second 
Degree of Masonry, do not altogether mean the exact ad- 
justment of Spirit-Matter, the two poles of a manifested 
universe. There are great attributes which need to be 
brought into equilibrium, as taught in the Occult Science, 
and Justice and Mercy are included. The law of Karma de- 
mands exact rendering from both. The theologians have 
sent us in our youth astray on this thought. 

A lack of the full import of Karma, has begotten much 
controversy from an ethical point of view, on the attitude 
of the faithful son in the parable, who was always just in 
his dealings, but the fatted calf was killed for the returned 

99 



prodigal only. The parable was some hundreds of years 
older than the gospels in both Brahminical and Buddhistic 
lore, but the latter will suffice to illustrate the Karmic prin- 
ciple. In the Buddhistic scripture it is designated as "The 
Lost Son." 

The two parables agree substantially on the wretched- 
ness of the wanderer, brought on by his own action. He 
was sowing to the wind to reap the whirlwind. But he 
turned, after bitter experience, and here we take the 
Buddhistic version: 

"He happened to come to the country in which his 
father lived. And the father saw him in his wretchedness, 
for he was ragged and brutalized by poverty, and ordered 
some of his servants to call him. 

"When the son saw the palace in which he was conduct- 
ed, he thought, 'I must have evoked the suspicion of a pow- 
erful man, and he will throw me into prison.' Full of ap- 
prehension he made his escape before he had seen his 
father. 

"Then the father sent messengers out after his son, and 
he was caught and brought back in spite of his cries and 
lamentations. And his father ordered the servants to deal 
tenderly with his son, and he appointed a laborer of his 
son's rank and education to employ the lad as a helpmate on 
the estate. And the son was pleased with his new situation. 

"From the window of the palace the father watched his 
boy, and when he saw that he was honest and industrious, 
he promoted him higher and higher. 

"After many years he summoned his son and called to- 
gether all his servants, and made the secret known to them. 
Then the poor man was exceedingly glad and he was full of 
joy at meeting his father. 

"Little by little must the minds of men be trained for 
higher truths." 

The above is submitted to the reader for his own, (not 
his preacher's,) candid judgment as to the course which em- 
bodies both justice and mercy, whether that of the psychical 
display on the part of a father (which would have been nat- 
ural in the eternal feminine in the mother as recorded in 



100 



the Christian gospel) or the constant, patient, and fully as 
loving course of the Buddhistic scripture. 

In the Eastern thought the masculine and feminine are 
two opposite poles, as are justice and mercy. Karma keeps 
them at equilibrium. In the Occult Science handed down 
by the Great Initiates the interior of woman is masculine 
and the reverse holds for the feminine. The flowery orator 
who recites as a platitude that the "bravest are the tender- 
est" understands but the objective aspect of it. The scien- 
tific import will be better understood when the warring 
camps of psychology in the Occident, hardly a half century 
old, will give due consideration to the observation, experi- 
ment and induction of the most profound nature students 
the world has seen, a system formulated by the contempla- 
tive minds of sages and seers covering a period of thou- 
sands of years. By the older system, the father in the Bud- 
dhistic thought was both masculine and feminine. If he 
had been but masculine, there would have been need, be- 
cause of stern justice, for a Queen of Heaven (clothed in 
vestments of gold and seated at the right hand of God as 
the Council of Trent stated it) to interpose for the wayward 
youth. It was not necessary in the Buddhistic occult sci- 
ence. The feminine was there, active, daily active at the 
window of the palace, watching the upward struggle of the 
prodigal. The fatherhood and motherhood derived from the 
Great First Cause were amply displayed by the parable. The 
sober, candid and just father of our advancing civilization, 
who would hardly rush out to the rebellious son and clothe 
him like a prince, and hail him to the world with honors 
befitting a Dewey just returned from great and good works, 
will see the ethical value of the Buddhistic teaching in con- 
trast with the episode in the Bible version, where such ac- 
tion would have been entirely natural in the mother, who, 
true to her maternal attributes, would have caressed him 
even in the gutter. But the universe is not run by a woman, 

101 



by mercy personified, nor, happily, as the Theosophist be- 
lieves, is it ruled by a man-god, an anthropomorphic creation 
of barbaric traditions who is implored frequently to "lay 
bare his strong arm" (in other words, to roll up his sleeve) 
before he takes his position behind our gun the better to 
butcher the fellow behind the other gun. Karma rules even 
the man behind the guns; and until we know 
more of the mysterious aims and ends of Karma 
as the great law, the expression of the Will 
of the Great All, there is nothing to prevent 
our believing, if we choose so to do, that men behind the 
guns against Spain may have been part of the reincarna- 
tions of the 340,000 and more who suffered under the In- 
quisition, and who were impelled by Karma to bring about 
equilibrium — exact justice. Nations have a Karma to ex- 
haust. America is generating Karma now on many lines. 

"Be not mocked; whatsoever a man sows that shall he 
also reap." 

An additional point should not be omitted when com- 
paring the wholeness of the operation of Karma, to the in- 
congruous mixture of Kismet and Karma in Calvanism. 
The Geneva school lays stress on the eternal decree; to Will, 
as expressed by the decree. The philosopher of the East be- 
comes the more shocked thereat, because in his thought De- 
sire always stands back of Will. This is in accord with 
common-sense well regulated, for who ever heard of mortal 
intelligence willing a thing unless it was first desired? 
Therefore, the Vedic Sages sought the desire behind the 
Will as the mainspring of all motive. From this viewpoint, 
the ruling divinity set up by Calvinism becomes a thousand 
times more cruel and abhorrent. He not only decreed from 
all eternity his will, that his own creatures should be for- 
ever damned, but back of this he desired it, otherwise would 
not have willed it. Is it any wonder that sincere and honest 
Theosophists who were once worshippers in Calvinistic 

102 



churches can find a more rational solution of profound prob- 
lems in the deep meditations of a long line of Nature stu- 
dents in the East, than by following John Calvin, who was 
born with the rickets, ran the gamut of diseases, and was 
so psychically insane as to glory, like his postulated divin- 
ity, in the green wood which he ordered for the burning of 
that good and pious Unitarian — Servetus? Theologian he 
was; but students of Karma do not choose to become the- 
ologians. 

It would be a prized addition to our literature if a com- 
petent researcher could give us as clear and as convincing 
a treatise on Kismet, dating from its first conception among 
the Semitic peoples as has been presented by Charles 
Johnston, on the Karma lines in his "Karma: Works and 
Wisdom." As stated before in these pages, the author is 
known as the Prize Sanscrit Scholar of India, but his great 
merit lies in the deep intuitive perception of catching the 
finest and faintest shades of meaning, so often missed by 
the professional philologists. 

In the work referred to, after a scholarly and painstak- 
ing abridgment of the vast subject, he states on p. 19: 

"Karma gradually came to mean the works of the 
priestly system; and as these works had the attainment of 
material success and the delights of a sensuous paradise as 
their avowed aim, it was natural that the term should come 
to mean all works that made for these things — all acts and 
energies that had as their object a sensuous gratification, 
whether in this or another world. 

"Underlying all this is the clear perception, everywhere 
present in Indian philosophy, that moral energies, whether 
good or evil, are real forces, indeed the only real forces in 
the universe. (Italics ours). The universe originally 
came into existence through the activity of moral 
forces; and what is true for the universal is 
also true for the individual — for man. Man has 
his being in moral energies; moral energies have 
shaped his exterior form and surroundings, and will shape 
his form and conditions in the future, in all worlds. And 



103 



these moral energies are not apart from or outside of him,, 
but are intimately connected with his real Self. 

"It lies solely with himself to which class of moral en- 
ergies (to which self) a man shall give effect — whether to 
the glowing light in the inner chamber of the heart, which 
leads him away from selfishness and sensuality, away from 
his individual self to the Eternal (his real Self), or to the 
baser energies of lust and hate, of sensual and selfish in- 
dulgence, which lead him outward and downward, away 
from his immortal Self, to a sensual form which from its 
very nature and necessities involves him in hostility toward 
all other men embodied like himself. As is the desire of 
his heart, so is his will; according to his will are his works. 
The result, in the one event, is conscious immortality, above 
all selfish and sensual desires — conscious sharing in the 
powers and energies of the Eternal. In the other event the 
result is rebirth, under sensual and selfish conditions, in 
this world, or perchance a baser world." 

It is due to the scholarship on ancient Semitic lines to 
record that there were Sages and Initiates among the peo- 
ples who flourished in their buried empires. It has been the 
misfortune of later history, colored by bigoted views and 
fanatical zeal, to dub all such heretics. The Sadducees, 
more of a class than a sect, among the Jews, that arose into 
prominence in the 2d century B. C. in opposition to the 
party of the Maccabees, held of human conduct, that it was 
within the control of man's own will. This was clearly not 
Kismet — lot, appointed fate. 

And stranger yet is the fact that among the Parsees — 
the rigid adherents of the Zoroastrian teaching, there has 
been founded a Theosophical Society in India of influence 
and wealth, by means of which they have been enabled to 
trace their line of descent to an origin which tallies with 
Theosophic teaching, and have published a volume, to be fol- 
lowed by another on same lines, in which the law of Karma 
is recognized by their ancient seers and sages. In passing, 
it may as well be noted, that dogmatic missionaries might 
have labored through another geological age before they 



104 



could have made an impression upon these deep, brooding, 
meditative minds. Theosophy was accepted by them sim- 
ply on its merits. This item is respectfully referred to the 
clergyman of Washington whose utterances as published 
stamp him also as a preacher rather than a teacher, who 
declared from his pulpit recently that Theosophy was a 
wretched failure, and who, in the same sermon preached 
rather than taught, that there was no historical evidence 
to support the statement that such a being as Buddha ever 
existed, but that the historical facts of the historic Nazarene 
were abundantly buttressed by the Bible! The action of 
Karma, in this case will reveal itself when in the future 
certain of his following will begin to search for themselves. 
The Parsees became Theosophists when they began a dili- 
gent search. It is the law of Karma, exemplifying itself. 
Action and reaction; cause and effect. "Whatsoever a man 
soweth, that shall he also reap." 

105 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE GENESIS OF MAN. 

Every now and then a new Garden of Eden is found; 
the discoverer is sure of it. The black-letter head-lines of the 
metropolitan journals inform the reader that at last the 
starting point of the human race is definitely located. Now 
it is Africa instead of Asia; again'it is Yucatan, and then 
Peru; free America, the new land is after all the old land. 
Reaching to the prehistoric, it must have been Atlantis of 
12,000 years ago; next it is the sunken Lemuria, the con- 
tinent that went down in the Indian Ocean 30,000 years ago. 
Back of all these, in the dim twilight it might as well have 
been Maurigassama, another vast area which is alleged to 
have gone under the sea near where now are the Philippine 
Islands; still another lost country in the vicinity of Pata- 
gonia could have been the first of all; and so the isles of the 
sea far out in the Pacific, are but the tops of 
the tallest mountains which fell into the slimy 
ooze. The search incites new interest in the dis- 
coveries around old Nippur and more ancient cities are 
prophesied in the same vicinity in the near future. Old 
ruins in Cambodia arouse French investigators since their 
acquisition of part of Siam's territory. 

Sven Hedin on his second trip in unexplored regions, 
supposed to be known only to the Thibetans, will surely 
find the very spot; other archaeologists in other directions 
promise certain results if the funds can be guaranteed. 
Speculative propositions abound concerning the rise and 

106 



fall of long stretches of solid land, as wherein by warrant 
of science, if a line is drawn from the Ascension Islands to 
St. Helena it will mark a continent which is now rising, 
so a line drawn between other points will indicate, as an off- 
set, where a corresponding fall must have occurred, and 
with it the lost Garden of Eden as a matter of course. 

All this literature saddens the heart of the dogmatic 
Oracle who insists that Adam and Eve started the race 6000 
years ago, and this is true because, as he says, the book of 
Genesis so records it; though just where this fact is so def- 
initely registered in print is hard for the Theosophist to 
state, unless the marginal notes founded on Bishop Usher'ij 
chronology are claimed as inspirations. What if these zeal- 
ous claimants for certain spots on the globe are all right, 
in an archaeological sense? And what if they are all wrong 
together with the Theologians in a more comprehensive 
sense? These questions are ever new, yet as positively old. 
A Theosophist reaching into the ancient wisdom finds that 
every race points back to its "Garden of Eden," or tanta- 
mount in meaning — its Golden Age. The divine origin of 
each, does not in the teaching, as taken from the sages, 
mean "a revelation from an anthropomorphic God, on a 
mount amidst thunder and lightning; but as we understand 
it, a language and a system of science imparted to the early 
mankind by a more advanced mankind, so much higher as 
to be divine in the sight of that infant humanity." 

With this key one can readily grasp the fullness of 
Momsen's assertion that it is to be doubted, whether we in 
our boasted civilization are a whit in advance of the Egyp- 
tians in the time of Rameses II. So, too, can we apprehend 
the awful meaning in the declaration of Eastern students 
that the human race is a Kali Yuga Cycle, 5000 years be- 
hind, owing to arrested development brought about by man; 
iris wars, his oppressions, his inhumanities to his fellow 
men, A statistician has estimated that even during the 

107 



short time of the Christian era, four billion lives have gone 
down in war, and priestcraft back of most of the slaughter. 
India is now in a state of degradation owing as much to 
priesthoods in her own environment as to conquests by 
ruder peoples. 

But the question recurs: does a Theosophist know more 
of the origin of the human race on this globe than others? 
He can answer sincerely that the teachings of the sages 
seem to him the nearest approach to truth of anything on 
the same lines from other sources excepting always, the de- 
ductions of the modern scientist wno seems to be in advance 
of his fellow-investigators because endowed with germs of 
more lucid insight, and a loftier prevision of thought; and 
this is simply stating that ancient reasoning is reincarnat- 
ing, for mental development in due course of evolution en- 
ables an occasional "Saul of Science" to disclose, i. e., un- 
close what has too long been closed to the ordinary vision. 
Here is an instance of late utterance which tallies with the 
arcane wisdom of the East as will be demonstrated further 
on. This extract is from an editorial of the past year in a 
periodical devoted to archaeological discoveries — Biolia: 

"The light thus thrown on the early history of South- 
ern Asia will have an important bearing on the earlier 
chapters of Genesis. But it will do still more. It will prob- 
ably help to clear up the obscure history of the supposed 
dispersion of primitive man from the alleged birthplace in 
Asia, and so it may aid in settling the still open question, 
whether mankind sprang from one stock, or was the product 
of evolutionary processes, taking place simultaneously in 
several different parts of the earth. The latter is the new 
theory (and the oldest wisdom according to the Theoso- 
phist) . 

"Coincidences in the history of the race development 
are now held by many to prove not necessarily a common 
origin and communication of tendencies, but simply the or- 
derly march of uniform law throughout the world. Not 
only Biblical but evolutionary and social science will there- 
fore eagerly await and welcome any light that Prof, Hil- 

108 



precht's find may throw into the dark corners of the past.'' 

And in pursuance of this desire for "any light" let a 
Theosophist have a disinterested hearing. 

The arcane teachings of the East state that man came 
upon this planet in streams of monadic essence in seven ra- 
diations. This does not mean seven definite lines striking 
seven particular spots, for seven Gardens of Eden would not 
obviate the difficulties always encountered in theological 
dogmatism. The seven came as do the seven colors visible 
to us; the seven notes in sound audible to us. Does not a 
dewdrop reflect the colors of the rainbow, on any spot on 
the globe? Do not sounds follow a law equally universal? 
And can a different lav/ be postulated for forms under an 
even rate of vibration? Has the scientist been found who will 
assert that a snowflake will deviate from its obligatory form 
of six spindles, thence differentiating into multiform beauty 
as outlined in the fascinating study of the wave action in 
nature by Chladni? The law that operates anywhere op- 
erates everywhere. 

And is not Nature true to her forms corresponding to 
numbers as demonstrated by Pythagoras who studied in the 
East? Has not Chladni, followed by others, demonstrated 
this? and does not the study of the ultimate cell show divine 
regard to groupings when the chromosomes appear twenty- 
four to the lily and kindred types, and sixteen to man's 
physical frame, as to mammalia in general? 

Did a sponge start miraculously on some marine rock 
of Asia the rest of the globe waiting geological periods for 
it to disperse its kind over the waters of the hemispheres? 

Did inorganic matter, with affinity for its soul force, 
coupled with motion of some degree, get its first cue from 
the All-Being in some little patch of Asiatic soil? Even the 
theologian will admit that the whole earth, as far as surface 
development above the deep showed itself, was governed by 
a law uniform throughout? 

109 



Did the Protozoa, with additional soul force, and fur- 
ther equipped with nervous material diffused through the 
mass acquiring automatism superimposed on motion, have 
one spot to the exclusion of all else as a creative point? 

And would the following reign of Mollusks and Articu- 
lates with a further plus endowment of soul force (as sensa- 
tion) with incipient ganglionic system somewhat discern- 
ible, acting with instinct, wait in the Occidental waters for 
the long pilgrimage of descendants from Oriental brine? 

And would the fishes, reptiles, birds and mammalians, 
•with their plus soul force — as intelligence, operating 
through well defined cerebro-spinal systems with action co- 
ordinated to the gift of intelligence, wait for future homes 
on distant continents, and far-off seas, until a, dispersion 
from some chosen spot which would appear to be hallowed 
above other points? 

And finally, with Man, — gloriously endowed with attri- 
butes still higher — his very distinct soul forces — Reason, 
Wisdom — Genius — plus acquisitions; are we called upon to 
believe that the Laurentian ridge, the oldest land in the 
geological text books of school days, waited for millions of 
years for a few stragglers of the human race to crawl over 
here by way of Bering Strait from a mountain-cooped sec- 
tion in the Tigris-Euphrates valley? 

Further difficulty besets us, for after the crawling was 
well under way that our continent might have an earlier 
start, a certain personage, as we are authoritatively told, 
was ordered to build a boat to save himself and family only, 
thus drowning the crawlers. 

A certain scientist of Washington whose name appears 
occasionally in the Smithsonian Reports, and newspaper ar- 
ticles, seems to be driven (from inherited conceptions prob- 
ably) to argue that this continent must have been peopled 
by emigration from Asia, yet he labors daily surrounded 
with prehistoric relics of our own continent that should 

110 



suggest some concentration of intellect, even if he ignores 
the assumption of another scientist of world-wide fame that 
man was on this continent in the Pliocene, and that can rea- 
sonably be dated approximately at 400,000 years ago; and 
there may be more than a kernel of thought in the declara- 
tion of the late Prof. D. G. Brinton, of the University of 
Pennsylvania, an authority on Anthropology: 

"There is not a single zoological specific difference to 
be found between the races of men." 

Ethnically we can perceive differences. So in colors, if 
we could speak of them in a zoological sense, are they not 
all broken in upon us from their source — the white light — 
which includes all, and to which all are resolvable? Thus, 
the ancient books reasoned as compiled by the sages. The 
seven radiations came from a single source; emanated, as 
they expressed it. It is by this method of deduction that 
the Theosophist demonstrates the essence in man — the 
Knower, of the same potential powers as exist in the crea- 
tive forces of Nature. Hence, to some, the strange language 
*n the Book of Dyzan, the old esoteric manual: 

"Seven times seven shadows were projected each to his 
own color. The Seven Hosts (emanations) who separated 
(projected) . 

"Animal man was ensouled with 'Pillars of Light' (In- 
tellect) . 

"Life and consciousness were in every point of the uni- 
verse. 

"This monad falls into matter for the same reason that 
it afterwards ascends into spirit to complete the cycle of 
experience, for without such constant emanation and ex- 
perience soul could not know itself." 

This is why the ancients taught the music of the 
spheres because one aspect of force was sound; the world 
had been called forth by Sound and Harmony (as well as by 
Light (color) and Number (form) and constructed accord- 
ing to the principles of musical proportion. 

The "Sensations of Tone" elaborated by Helmholtz, 
111 



proved that soul reincarnates, for the extension of this 
theory to the solution of a problem more than 2000 years 
old meant nothing less than the physical explanation of 
harmony as taught by Pythagoras, who learned it in the 
East. His "Klangfarbe" (tone color) rendered into coarser 
English as pitch, intensity, quality, is interpreted from 
Eastern thought as Vibration. And these vibrations touch 
every point of the globe. Did not Lockyer, the English as- 
tronomer, the other day insist that if the inhabitants of 
Mars really sent a message to us, it would not strike the in- 
strument of Tesla alone, but touch evenly our whole sphere? 
So it is claimed by the Eastern teaching, that the "promise 
and potency," as we express it as moderns, in all matter, 
was in the whole vibratory thrill, the Great Breath, and 
wafted divinely to all points equally, never selecting a chos- 
en spot or chosen people. 

The Genesis of Man, therefore, according to the learned 
definition of Dr. Alexander Wilder, is not "generation" but 
"a coming out of the eternal into the Cosmos and Time"; a 
coming from esse into existere, or from Be-ness into Being, 
as the Theosophist would say. And this as simply as forms 
appear on the tightly-drawn drumhead of the Eidophone 
(form-sound), where the fine powder scattered evenly ar- 
ranges into designs according to the purity or coarseness of 
the voice that speaks into the tube forcing the vibrations 
against the tympanum. The Native students of the East 
had pondered over such facts and left for our instruction: 

"With the Outgoing Breath forms appear; with the 
Indrawing Breath forms disappear." 

But the Psychological bearing on the question deserves 
some attention. In the line of development it is now con- 
ceded by the Chairs of Psychology that the study of mind in 
animals usually called comparative psychology, and the 
study of mind in the lower races of mankind called ethnic 
psychology prove scientifically that the animals have all the 

112 



kinds of consciousness man has in his objective function- 
ing on the mental plane, though not so highly developed. 
The difference is in degree, not in kind. This is in line 
with the formula of evolution from the old Sanscrit: 

"An element becomes a mineral; a mineral a plant; a 
plant an animal; an animal a man; a man a god." 

The old teaching is further expanded by the declara- 
tion that as the soul of man was passing through a pilgrim- 
age of all these kingdoms (the Fall into matter) and will 
evolve to higher yet, so the animals will follow in their turn 
and become men, and all animate nature will eventually be- 
come at-one-ment with the creative force. Did the fall of 
Adam affect the whole course of evolution in all its stages 
of progress? It must have taxed the early priestcraft to in- 
vent a curse which included even the dumb brutes on their 
upward and forward development. 

There remains the ethical and religious aspect of the 
question. If there was no Garden of Eden as narrated in 
the Biblical Genesis and Theosophists have easily surren- 
dered their belief in such a legend, there could have been no 
first pair of human beings. If not, there could have been 
no Fall (as stated in legendary form in Genesis) ; no special 
tree in the flora of that time; no talkative serpent; no driv- 
ing out by an angel on picket duty with a flaming sword; 
no curse on either the first pair or their thousands of mil- 
lions of descendants who were not particeps criminis. 

Enough has been translated by the archaeologists that 
the warp and woof of the whole tale was borrowed from 
earlier tradition, and pagans though they were who record- 
ed such legends with many versions, there is sufficient be- 
fore us not only to discredit the whole fabric as fact, but 
much to instruct us how they viewed the allegory in their 
dogmatics and speculation. 

Then, if there was no such Fall of Man, as science 
proves, there can be no need for Redemption. What was 

9 113 



there to redeem? And with this goes the dogmatic scheme 
of Atonement, and this, strange to say, was not fully elabo- 
rated for the knowledge of mankind until Bishop Anselm, 
father of the Scholastic theory, laid the orthodox doctrine 
of the Atonement in the Twelfth Century, a period not cred- 
ited by enlightened minds as one which could solve prob- 
lems in any other realm of thought of the rational order of 
the universe. 

If the Vicarious Atonement goes, and the Theosophist 
thinks it has been going with accelerated speed, what neces- 
sity for a supernatural Incarnation? With this borrowed 
idea, (for the older religions are full of a modified narration 
from an earlier conception,) there would seem to be little 
left for the partisan preachers to stand upon. The creeds 
are built on such supernatural postulates, but it is in the air 
that creeds must go. Yet Christianity in its purer interpre- 
tation need not go; it will be strengthened when rid of the 
abscesses. 

One paragraph from the intuitive mind of Faraday is 
worth to the student who is honest with himself, all the 
hypothetical verbiage in the ecclesiastical libraries: 

"I have long held an opinion, almost amounting to a 
conviction, in common, I believe, with many other lovers of 
natural knowledge, that the various forms under which the 
forces of Nature are made manifest, have one common ori- 
gin; or, in other words, are so directly related and naturally 
dependent, that they are convertible, as it we^e, into one an- 
other, and possess equivalents of power in their action." 

This early enunciation of new scientific thought has 
been enlarged upon by thinkers and investigators of every 
civilized nation until it seems as if the old thought of the 
six systems of Indian philosophy is reincarnating in the 
best intellects of our day and when duly grafted upon the 
Christian consciousness will result in something that can 
approach a rational religion. 

That one common origin in Theosophic thought is in 

114 



the Oneness of all. For classification and teaching pur- 
poses, an Emanation from the Great All is the Universal 
Soul; from this the Oversoul of our sphere; from this the 
individual souls of mankind, as set forth in the Third Pos- 
tulate of the Philosophy of the School. 

Some carping criticism occasionally appears concerning 
the enormous periods of time covered by Hindu chronology, 
and Egyptian as well. It is not absolutely essential that re- 
liance be placed upon any calculation, ancient or modern, 
for whether computed in millions or billions of years the 
essentials of Theosophy — the aiming toward the Perfect 
Man by Reincarnation through the Law of Karma — would 
remain unimpaired. Nevertheless, a curiosity is manifested 
by the "man on the street" who asks concerning the theo- 
ries which have been put forward in certain Theosophical 
books, the leading one being the quotation from the "Ocean 
of Theosophy'' by W. Q. Judge, and many wish he had not 
incorporated it in such dogmatic form: 

"The real age of the world is asserted by Theosophy to 
be almost incalculable, and that of man as he is now formed 
is over eighteen millions of years." 

The reasoning back of the above statement is not, or 
should not be a shock to our modern scientific thinking, 
though the genuine Yankee asks "Why didn't you make it 
round numbers and call it 20,000,000 years and be done with 
it?" Simply because there was no valid reason to leave the 
problem as guess work. It was derived from a faithful trav- 
erse of the calculations of Maedler who proved to the satis- 
faction of many, if not all, that our whole galaxy of stars 
is revolving in a mighty circle, the star Alcyone, of the Ple- 
iades, being nearest the central point, and that eighteen 
million two hundred thousand years elapsed for one rev- 
olution around this distant center. The credit of the math- 
ematical problem may belong to Maedler, and others as well, 
who were working to the same end as is always the case as 

115 



proved by Psychology. The real merit of the conclusion 
claimed for the deep brooding meditative Hindu mind was 
the concomitant study of Vibration. They reasoned with 
their time-honored acumen that the rate of vibration which 
ever determines Form, had not appreciably changed for this 
planet, during this one turn. Therefore, if the ratio of vi- 
bration kept uniform, so did man's erect form. This conclu- 
sion also is held tentatively, awaiting disprovaL 

To follow out this reasoning let the reader ponder care- 
fully the argument of Sir William Crookes, the great scien- 
tist, in his address to the Psychical Research Society where- 
in he demonstrates that if the rate of vibration on this globe 
was lowered but a degree, our forms would tend to the heav- 
iness whici> would demand a support on all-fours; but let 
it, the rate, be raised but to an appreciable degree and we 
should become as the Greeks dreamed — "supremely tall and 
divinely fair," and we could walk on eggs without crushing 
them. 

Whether we shall in the twentieth century recover ail 
the hidden wisdom of the ages is a fruitless inquiry when 
studying the actual essentials of Theosophy; but these prob- 
lems have a bearing in the class-rooms, and touch many 
stanzas of the old esoteric literature. Indirectly, all has a 
bearing on the study of the Genesis of Man, and it is some 
satisfaction to know from the letters sent from the far-East 
by the archeologists that they have concluded that Herodo- 
tus was not the "father of lies" as recorded by some super- 
ficial students because he reached back thousands of years; 
that Manetho the Egyptian historian probably knew more 
of Egypt than people in some college chairs who never saw 
a real Egyptian, dead or alive, and that whether his men- 
tion of the 36,525 scrolls meant only an occult reference to 
the twenty-five Sothiac cycles of 1461 years each, which it 
was considered covered Egyptian history, it certainly meant 
something beyond the ken of authors who have not broken 

116 



from their district school teachings of a Mosaic creation. 

An evolutionist of the present day estimates time by 
millions and thousands of millions of years; a physicist 
from his point of view seeks to abridge, and Lord Kelvin 
after shifting around several times has come down to sixty 
millions of years. The astronomer who devotes a lifetime 
to his specialty as does Camille Flammarion is generous 
enough to remain non-committal, though he is willing to 
agree that we of the present age know as little of the an- 
cient Zodiac as did Hipparchus who declared it to be of "un- 
questioned authority, unknown origin and unsearchable an- 
tiquity." 

The Theosophist amidst the confusion of tongues on the 
exact date of the appearance of man on this earth, can rea- 
sonably accept for all practical purposes the short words of 
Prof. Dana of Yale, in his standard work on Geology, "Time 
is long; very long." 

Would it not be well for the sticklers who take the Mo- 
saic Genesis literally to give a disinterested hearing to, say, 
Prof. De Witt Hyde of Bowdoin College (as well as others) 
who sees in the Fall of Man a different interpretation (and 
closely allied to the teachings of old)^ and then from such a 
Fall, to begin on new lines for a further interpretation of 
Redemption, to be followed with a concomitant study of in- 
dividual self-induced and self-devised effort to reach an ac- 
one-ment with the parenthood Source, and then to accept 
other Incarnations of Great Teachers for other races, other 
ages, other environments? This would be constructive, not 
destructive and would clear the atmosphere of the discord- 
ant echoes from the bigoted cries of "Iconoclasm." If there 
is any well-grounded evidence that Ingersoll took away 
without replacing with a better belief — or something con- 
solatory, there can be no such charge laid at the Theoso- 
phist's teaching. The members of the Society who were 
raised in the dogmatic faiths are the better judges, for they 
have canvassed both sides. The Theosophist maintains the 
attitude of the blunt Scotchman who avowed: "Honesty is 
the best policy: I have tried baith." 



117 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE PSYCHIC POWERS LATENT IN MAN. 

The proper study of mankind is Man. Is all study of 
Man on lines not labeled "Theosophic" to be considered "im- 
proper"? Decidedly not; but a Theosophist can claim with 
some confidence that the wise Men of the East of whatever 
school, from Narada of India, to Plato of Greece, knew more 
of man than has been deyeloped by the study of Psychology 
in the Occident since this, the most important of the sci- 
ences, began with serious stress about a quarter of a century 
ago. 

A quotation from Camille Flammarion's recent work 
"The Unknown" is not out of place here to prepare the mind 
of the student for a thorough study of the psychic powers la- 
tent in Man: 

"There exists in our cosmos a dynamic element, impon- 
derable and invisible, diffused through all parts of the uni- 
verse, independent of matter visible and ponderable, and 
acting upon it; and in that dynamic element there is an in- 
telligence superior to our own. Yes, undoubtedly we think 
with our brains as we see with our eyes, as we hear with our 
ears; but it is not our brain which thinks any more than it 
is our eyes which see. What would you say of a person who 
congratulated a telescope on seeing the canals of Mars so 
well? The eye is an organ and so is the brain." 

And the Theosophist follows, and says, "and so is the 
mind." The mind is an organ of Soul. The current mod- 
ern teaching has been that mind is immortal; the teaching 
of the Sages is, and moderns are coming to it, that the Soul 
only is immortal, i. e., immortal in the sense that it retains 

118 



individuality. The Self of man persists, but the bodies and 
minds he wears are born and die. 

The psychic powers latent in man are subject to the 
law of constant change; alternating from waking to sleep- 
ing; acting in conformity to the law under that aspect of 
the study covered by the A. U. M. — Formation, Transforma- 
tion, Reformation. 

As another evidence that modern thought is veering to 
the ancient reasoning, take an extract from one of the lec- 
tures of Prof. D. G. Brenton, late Professor of American Ar- 
chaeology and Linguistics in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania : 

"The real explanation of the origin of religion is simple 
and universal. Let any man ask himself on what his own 
religious belief is founded, and the answer, if true, will hold 
good for every member of the race, past and present. it 
makes no difference whether we analyze the superstitions 
of the rudest savages, or the lofty utterances of John the 
Evangelist, or of Spinoza the 'god-intoxicated philosopher'; 
we shall find one and the same postulate to the faith of all. 

This universal postulate, the psychic origin of all re- 
ligious thought, is the recognition, or, if you please, the as- 
sumption, that conscious volition is the ultimate source of 
all Force. It is the belief that behind the sensuous, phe- 
nomenal world, distinct from it, giving it form, existence 
and activity, lies the ultimate, invisible, immeasurable 
power of Mind, of conscious Will, of Intelligence, analogous 
in some way to our own; and, — mark this essential corol- 
lary, — that man is in communication with it." 

And this communication has been demonstrated for 
thousands of years. With proper study, the means of com- 
munication can be apprehended to a greater or less degree 
according to the fidelity and freedom of the investigator 
coupled with a rational grasp of these "unexplained" laws 
of Nature. Spiritualism, Christian Science, Mental Science, 
Faith Cures, and all modes of thought which claim connec- 
tion with the Unseen Universe can, in a measure, though 



119 



not fully as yet, be rendered into intelligible conceptions. 
We shall do well to heed the counsel of Laplace: 

"We are as yet far from knowing all the agencies of na- 
ture (he wrote apropos of psychic phenomena as displayed 
by what was then termed animal magnetism) ; but it would 
be unphilosophical to reject phenomena merely because they 
are inexplicable in the present state of our knowledge. Only 
we must examine them with the most scrupulous attention 
and determine up to what point we should multiply observa- 
tions or experiments in order to obtain a probability supe- 
rior to the reasons that may be brought forward for not 
admitting them." 

Take the study of Spiritualism for instance. The The- 
osophist declares at the outset, supported by the wisdom of 
the ages, that the word to begin with is a misnomer. In- 
deed, studious members of that cult admit as much, and say 
that the name was thrust upon their school of thought by 
outsiders. This much was tacitly admitted at a convention 
(National Spiritualist) held in Washington but a few years 
ago where in the resolutions adopted as proclamation to the 
world they used a substitution: "indwelling energy." This 
step forward in line with the psychological study of the day 
will appeal to thinking people. 

The Theosophist is consistent with the fundamentals 
of his culture when he rejects both spiritualism and spirit- 
ism as applying to individuals, dead or alive. If we hold 
that there are no human spirits known on earth, how can 
we admit that there are ex-carnate spirits of the same 
grade? In a prior chapter showing the distinction between 
Spirit and Soul as taught in the esoteric lore, Spirit is uni- 
versal, as is the sunshine. It is neither mine nor thine, 
therefore human spirits do not exist; but souls are indi- 
viduated, and in their long pilgrimage, if on the upward 
trend, are by effort, endeavoring to assimilate as much of 
this all pervading spirit as is possible. When the goal is 

120 



reached the individual Ego has become spiritualized. But 
if no effort has been made it cannot reasonably be stated 
that the erstwhile good-spirit force has become bad spirit. 
When we hear of bad spirits acting on human minds it is 
equivalent in Theosophic thought to saying black-whites, or 
white-blacks. It is beyond our conception of a rational 
order to say that badness is spiritualized. Then the query: 
"What becomes of badness in the world, if nothing can be 
lost or destroyed?" It remains, as taught in the esoteric 
books, on the psychic plane, the next to the physical, the 
coarsest of all planes counting from above, and man is al- 
ways in communication with it. In this relatively coarse 
plane there cannot be, in consistent thought, black lights or 
white darkness. Spirituality is forever the same, an aspect 
of the Absolute, always light, — "The Great White Light" of 
esotericism. 

Can there be ex-carnate souls? Most assuredly, if the 
teachings of all lofty souls are to be taken in preference to 
the materialistic thought of this age. Can these ex-carnate 
souls communicate with human beings on the physical 
plane. Not in Theosophic thought. And here, let it be un- 
derstood that the Theosophist does not care to be aggressive 
or combative on this question. Many sincere people believe 
that they have communicated with the departed 
dead. The Theosophist has given serious and 
persistent study to the subject, and is prepar- 
ed to say that on the given facts he is quite 
as well informed as the Spirtualist. The attitude of mind 
in which a Theosophist wishes to find himself is that of 
respectful attention, intellectual hospitality, and cordial 
sympathy; nay, even more, that of an ardent wisher that 
such a belief can have a warrant of certitude which will 
allow an embrace, for it would be a consolation beyond 
measure to know that it is true. But years of investiga- 
tion, bolstered with a hope that it might be true, and with 

121 



a hope strong enough to lean toward the hypothesis more 
than an investigating mind should, there still remains the 
blunt conclusion that "dead men tell no tales." 

"Who, then, does tell these tales? Whence come these 
strange messages?'' is the impatient query from the believer. 
We answer as calmly and as soothingly as we can: — from 
the psychic forces latent in man, which are correlated to 
the mind of man in his subconscious states, and this mind, 
whether divided for teaching purposes in the ordinary ob- 
jective, sub-conscious and, mayhap, the supra-conscious, is 
the same mind with which we are directly connected; or, as 
Prof. Bunton puts it, "Man is in communication with it." 
The mind is not soul; it s an organ of soul, one of the differ- 
entiations of the Soul. The psychic force is not Soul, but 
another aspect. Psychical and mental are not synonymous 
terms in Eastern psychology. 

At the 105th General Meeting of the Society for Psy- 
chical Research, London, May 18, 1900, the President, Mr. 
F. W. H. Meyers delivered the address which is respectfully 
submitted to the consideration of the reader of these pages. 
Only salient points can be touched upon. Here is one: 

"And, in fact, this line of inquiry has already pointed 
us ,to a hidden, subliminal world within us, and through 
that world to an unseen, but responsive, spiritual world 
without." 

Here the Theosophist would modify the last clause and 
teach from the "subliminal world within us," to the unseen 
but responsive psychical world. 

Another suggestive paragraph from the same source 
may be pondered with grave interest: 

"Yet let not those who mock at the weaknesses of modern 
Spiritualism ask themselves to what extent either orthodox 
religion or official science has been at pains to guard the 
popular mind against losing balance upon contact with new 
facts, profoundly but obscurely significant? Have the peo^ 
pie's religious instructors trained them to investigate for 



122 



themselves. Have their scientific instructors condescended 
to investigate for them? Who should teach them to apply 
to their 'inspirational speakers' any test more searching 
than they have been accustomed to apply to the sermons of 
priest or bishop? What scientific manual has told them 
enough of the hidden powers within them to prevent them 
ascribing to spiritual agency whatever mental action their 
ordinary consciousness may fail to recognize as its own?" 

This withering criticism of the preachers and theolo 
gians, from the scientific point of view of our age is well 
deserved. Had St. Augustine devoted his attention more to 
earth he would not have been mislead by phenomena which 
could have been explained by the pagans (?) of India. In his 
letter to Erodius, Bishop of Ugales, he makes mention .of 
a young man who appeared to a great many persons after 
death and by that means "God permitted that they should 
be confirmed in the high opinion they had of his sanctity." 
His views, however, of cosmic processes, were limited by 
the ignorance of his age which held that it was impossible 
for the earth to be round because the people on the under 
side could not see the Lord descending in glory at the great 
day. 

St. Thomas Aquinas, who is revered as an authority by 
Catholic universities and colleges leaves for posterity (see 
Mori's Catholic "Ages of Faith") that his sister, the Abbess 
of St. Mary of Capua, appeared to him after her death and 
told him of her state in heaven and of the condition of his 
two brothers, Andulph being still in Purgatory and Rey- 
nold already in Paradise. Again, one night, as the angelic 
doctor prayed in the church of St. Dominic, at Naples, Fa- 
ther Romain, to whom he had ceded the chair of theology at 
Paris, appeared to him, before the others heard of his death 
and told him he was among the blessed and answered many 
questions of St. Thomas, and to his query respecting heaven, 
replied "Sicut audivimus sic vedimus," (as we have heard 
so we have seen"). 

123 



In our investigating age such incidents are common, 
yet explained, as they anciently were by the Wise Men of 
the East, and now by the Wise Men of the West, all are 
within the personality and not from outside sources. 

What makes the subject still more interesting to the in- 
vestigator, is the comment of the Catholic editor in this en- 
lightened age of science, as follows: 

"All modern writers hold, it is said, that the possibility 
of apparations or spirits must be admitted by every one 
who believes in the Deity and his supernatural omnipres- 
ence." 

Quotations are also made by the editor from church 
writers in support of the reappearance on earth of dis- 
embodied spirits. And the Theosophical investigator on 
these lines has found that church history abounds with such 
incidents through all the centuries, yet with no correspond- 
ing effort to instruct the people. No wonder the President 
of the Psychical Society asks: 

"Have the people's religious instructors trained them 
to investigate for themselves ?" 

Nor need a certain class of Theosophists attempt 
to escape criticism. It is but four years since one of 
the prominent officials (called a "leader" in the publica- 
tions) gave out to the world that in mid-ocean on a steamer, 
she had received a communication from Madame Blavatsky 
approving of the course then in progress, which course was 
certainly not approved by many of the more studious of 
the culture. As to the sincerity of this personality in thus 
enunciating such un-theosophical claims, there can be no 
doubt. All trance mediums are sincere from their point of 
view. When they see an apparition, the testimony of their 
senses is not easily shaken. When they hear voices they are 
equally positive of their right to declare, as did St. Augus- 
tine or St. Aquinas, that they know whereof they speak, and 
wild horses cannot drag them away from their sincere be- 
lief, but the scientific investigator, on the same facts can 

124 



intelligently demonstrate that all comes from within, all 
belongs to that realm included within the psychic powers 
latent within Man. 

Take Ribot, for instance, and he is but one of the thous- 
ands who are persistently investigating on these lines. Has 
he not convinced the studious mind that our ordinary 
thinking is but an infinitesimal portion of the 
thinking of the psycnic personality? From this grows, also, 
the duplex personality, and the triple, and one case is now 
engaging the scientists where six personalities are clearly 
defined and functioning at intervals in one organism. 

The reason why space is given these quotations is, that 
for the past eighteen years the Psychical Research Society 
has devoted candor and care to the phenomena which are 
grouped under the "Psychic Powers latent in Man," as the 
Theosophist designates them. The Presidents rank with 
the best thinkers of our age, to wit: Prof, H. Sidgwich, 1882- 
1884; Prof. Balfour Stewart, P. R. S., 1885-1887; Prof. Sidg- 
wich, again, 1889-1892; Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, M. P., 
F. R. S., 1893; Prof. William James, Harvard University, 
1894-1895; Sir William Crookes, F. R. S., 1896-1899. Yet 
the President of the past year states in his address: 

"May not the instances where adequate precautions 
have been taken, adequate record made, be counted on the 
fingers of one hand?" 

This, in reference to those to whose care responses 
from the unseen world have been hitherto left. Neverthe- 
less, one point stands out clearly which can be demonstrated 
by a canvass of their fifteen published volumes, the hidden 
forces within! All investigation from other sources cor- 
roborates this position. Even in the phenomenal case or 
Miss Helene Smith, given by Prof. Flournoy in his recent 
work "From India to the Planet Mars," although this intel- 
ligent woman may "insist with stoutest boasts" that she 
sees the ghosts, and may claim with a never-failing confi- 

125 



dence that is assuredly convincing to her own senses, that 
she knows Leopold, sees him, hears him, understands him — 
in spite of this the learned Professor of Psychology from 
the same facts, as scientifically insists, that it is all "within 
her." 

So, too, the Theosophist has been taught in the esoteric 
books. All is within. According to tenets long held by 
investigators in the Orient, if the soul of man on earth ever 
gets into comunication with an ex-carnate soul, the living 
must mount to the dead, not the 'dead descend to the living. 
Soul may mount to soul in rational thought, but the con- 
tact will not be made through the medium of any of the five 
senses, nor will it be made on the physical plane. 

Therefore, if Saul traveled to the Witch of Endor to 
evoke the dead Samuel, he carried the ghost of Samuel 
within him. The witch could not produce it. She did not 
keep dead men's forms on tap for all comers, nor do modern 
mediums. Sensitives who seek such phenomena generally 
perceive that which most interests them. Other callers who 
are in grief and wish to hear rather than see, generally hear 
that which mostly interests them. The process is intelli- 
gently understood under psychological law. 

These strange cases, weird, uncanny, fascinating, and 
bewitching to many, are referable to the subdivisions now 
recognized as valid under the headings of hypnotism 
(pathological as well as normal) ; automatism (motor and 
sensory) ; telepathy (individual or collective) ; apparitions; 
natural somnambulism (as well as hypnotic) ; double or 
multiplex personality; clairvoyance, clairaudience, psy- 
chometry, suggestion, (auto and collective) ; veridical 
dreams, and an almost endless possibility awaiting the 
student as effort brings in fresh facts to analyze, label or 
appraise. 

And with the forthcoming of these new phenomenal 
aspects of the psychic powers latent in Man let it not be 

126 



forgotten that Professor Ladd who occupies the chair of 
Psychology of Yale University with such great distinction, 
says that as man has reasonably been functioning in the 
past with more than twenty senses, instead of the tradi- 
tional five, and will yet use twenty more in the course of 
due evolution, it must always be kept steadfastly in mind 
that all is within. 

It may be gathered from the above broad generaliza- 
tions that the human organism is the harmonious work- 
ing — the association of parts within a whole. As such this 
individual organism is a formal community of effort and 
will. As Lewes would put it, from his viewpoint — a sen- 
sory commune," but this limits the whole to sensory con- 
ceptions, well enough as to parts. A complete "connexus of 
activities" is another way of attempting to state it, but the 
idea uppermost in the minds of many would be, activities on 
the physical and even the mental planes. This would not 
cover all. All, in the mind of the Theosophist, means what 
it says; all the powers and forces of the Universe thus 
flung at man, centered in him until he becomes a veritable 
constellation of powers. If they are dormant or merely la- 
tent, it is because organized effort has not been put forth 
tending to the end — Perfect Man. That end is attainable in 
the far-off event by development, this through growth, this 
by organization of all the parts. The Theosophist is for- 
ever seeking further illumination on the processes to bring 
about the end — the Perfect Man. 

And here, a pause demands some correction as to a 
proper understanding of illumination. Let an average man 
on the street ask another of same grade of culture, as is 
usually done, "What are these Theosophists driving at, any- 
way?" "O, they claim some direct illumination or some- 
thing of that sort. I looked up the word in the dictionary 
and that's what I gather." The author of these papers re- 
ceived from an intelligent lady who has devoted years of 

127 



study to all phases of faith, the information that a Theoso- 
phist could, in his own opinion, sit in quiet retreat and be 
illuminated from outside sources far above the ordinary 
mortal, and she added, that perhaps the psychical predom- 
inated in such people. Such misconceptions are prevalent, 
and a word or two by way of correction is in order. 

The Theosophist, if sincere, is the last in the world to 
expect any thing without effort, which he recognizes as a 
great law of Nature, and when Prof. Goldwin-Smith in his 
"Guesses at the Riddle of Existence" states that perhaps, 
after all, we may discover effort to be the great law of Nature, 
he is sapping and mining very close to the ancient fortifica- 
tions of esotericism, which declares, and reiterates by mani- 
fold methods of reasoning, that only by man's individual 
effort; independent of Pope, prelate, priest or preacher can 
man attain his salvation and this by means of an illumina- 
tion which lights the path. How is this illumination to be 
obtained? 

Take an utterance from Tyndall, who admitted that he 
gathered much of his insight by following Emerson: 

"Thus we see that Newton first pondered his facts, illu- 
minated them with persistent thought, and finally divined 
the character of the force of gravitation. But having thus 
traveled inward to the principle, he had to reverse his 
steps carry the principle outward, and justify it by demon- 
strating its fitness to external Nature." 

Mark the steps: "first pondered his facts." No sitting 
down here to mystic contemplation (which is well enough 
in its way whether studying the Cosmos, or trying to work 
out a patent), and waiting for some shower from outside to 
come without effort from within; but he, himself "illumina- 
ted them with persistent thought." This persistent thought, 
known as "intensity," in Psychological text-books, caused 
the light which manifested as illumination. How often we 
hear of one who by persistent thought for years on an in- 
vention has been brought to the full light in a dream — he 

128 



"dreamed it out" as he expresses it. But going off into 
sleep for the sake of dreaming never took out a patent. Dogs 
dream. This persistent thought has left its stored energy 
in the subliminal depths; registered there; it has been work- 
ing there under the unremitting law of unconscious cere- 
bration until there comes a moment of fulfillment when 
he can rush out into the street as did one of old and yell 
"Eureka" I have found it with a strong emphasis on the 1. 

But after the stage of illumination has been reached, 
more remains to be done. Newton next "divined the char- 
acter of the force" upon which he had been illuminated by 
persistent thought. The Theosophist claims no more for 
his method of procedure. Nothing supernatural comes to 
him; the very word is expunged from his working vocab- 
ulary. Supersensuous has a meaning to the student of Oc- 
cultism, but in using it, the idea of miracle is blotted from 
thought. 

The moment we utter the word "supersensuous" as 
contrasted with "supernatural," we are in the domain of the 
psychic forces, but this, does not mean that we leave the 
physical plane as a definite place to enter one above, which 
might be inferred from the prefix "super." It is higher in 
the rate of vibration, but both planes are within, together 
with other planes, still higher, each with a higher rate of 
vibration. Is this line of reasoning vague to the reader? 

Adopt a parallel to make it clear. A few years ago the 
savants met in England at their annual association for the 
advancement of Science, and divided into sections as they 
are for the simplifying of the vast work. Section A devoted 
to "Terrestrial Magnetism and Atmospheric Electricity" 
made its annual report. In brief, it stated that fifty years 
ago five stations were established for the study of Terres- 
trial Magnetism: America, England, France, Germany and 
Russia, one each. Only the one in Russia is of any prac- 
tical moment now. Why? Because in the other countries 

io 129 



electricity has multiplied its agencies for power, light, heat, 
chemistry, etc., until the vibrations have surcharged every- 
thing where it works, and the city of Washington is cited 
as being so thoroughly saturated that even the water and 
gas pipes in the earth are disintegrating because of the ac- 
tion of currents, whether escaping or not, is indefinite in 
said report. 

The observer will see in every direction wires over- 
head and conduits underneath, as well as motor power on 
the surface, generating currents which preclude the working 
by observation and experiment of the finer force of mag- 
netism. The magnetic instruments are too delicate to re- 
spond in such a chorus of relatively coarser vibrations. On 
the material plane, as some Theosophists would reason, 
these finer instruments should be taken to Russia or some 
other secluded retreat where the results of civilization will 
not hinder. This is generally an argument of a few of the 
ultra-mystic school, and of convents and nuneries in all ages 
when monarchism flourishes under priestly patronage, from 
the earliest in Egypt, India and Chaldea to the present day. 

But the studious Theosophist who first ponders the 
facts, and illuminates them with persistent thought in order 
to divine the character of this finer force of magnetism, 
will have none of this "non-earthly" procedure. Man is not 
a delicate instrument set to a rate of vibration that is dif- 
ficult to hold "static" in his environment. He is a magnet 
himself. He feels the electrical forces, but is so constitu- 
ted that it is ever seeking equilibrium — adaptation. He 
will overcome all even if the modern civilization shall 
"criss-cross" every square inch of his welkin with wires and 
wireless contrivances. Give him time to adapt his organ- 
ism to these newly developed agencies and he will surmount 
all, by using all, to develop still higher powers, until the 
dream of Bulwer Lytton may become a reality as fore- 
shadowed in "The Coming Race." But this dream will 

130 



never be realized, according to the reasoning of the Theos- 
ophist by running away from the currents to some retreat. 

The psychic forces, next to the physical, all within man, 
must be passed through by experience and overcome; not 
that they are base and ignoble, but that there are higher 
planes to enter before the Perfect Man can stand as the 
climax of all that is now possible in our ideals, and when 
that stage is reached, it is even then in the line of reason- 
ing that higher conceptions will be evolved, but nothing in 
Theosophic thought was ever evolved until it was first in- 
volved — all within again. 

Higher conceptions, higher planes and kindred phrases 
necessary in the explanation of phychic forces are apt to 
draw the fire of the over-exact carper. All the shafts which 
have been hurled at "Transcendentalism," and "Occultism ' 
as studied in the East seem to be specially aimed at the 
Theosophist. Here is a specimen as given by a reverend 
gentleman in a popular book on religion: 

"Theosophists profess to possess certain powers over 
nature by which communication between one mind and an- 
other may be made at a distance and intercourse held with 
disembodied spirits by certain media called Mahatmas, who 
are supposed to possess spiritualistic gifts of a superior 
order." 

Does this oracle of orthodox spleen know that in the 
Theosophic glossary, the Christ, the Buddha, the Mahatm.% 
have precisely the same signification? And why should noc 
they be "supposed to possess spiritualistic gifts of a supe- 
rior order," if they have assimilated the all-pervading spirit 
until it can be rationally stated that they have become spir- 
itualized. As to "holding intercourse with disembodied 
spirits," no Theosophist of an inquiring cast of mind ever 
believed it a possibility on the physical plane; he is clearly 
taught that until further perfected, men are not fitted to re- 
ceive communications from a higher world. It is held ra- 
tional in his comprehension of the cosmos that by growth 

131 



and development which but few have ever attained, planes 
above the physical can be reached, but as to communica- 
tions between mind and mind at a distance, which is Telep- 
athy, the Theosophist will not shirk the charge, nor will 
any student of the psychic forces latent in man care to, 
after investigation of the records of India, and the East 
generally, for thousands of years. Even nearer home, this 
power has again and again been demonstrated. But per- 
haps the best answer to such cavil is a quotation from the 
writing of one who is rated as a scientist — Alfred Russel 
Wallace, in his work recounting the wonderful achieve- 
ments of the past century: 

"The great lesson to be learnt from our review of this 
subject (psychical research) is, distrust of all a priori judg- 
ments as to facts; for the whole history of the progress of 
human knowledge, and especially of that department of 
knowledge now known as psychical research, renders it 
certain that, whenever the scientific men or popular teach- 
ers of any age have denied on a priori grounds of impossi- 
bility, or opposition to the laws of nature, the facts ob- 
served and recorded by numerous investigators of average 
honesty and intelligence, these deniers have always oeen 
wrong. Future ages will I believe be astonished at the vast 
amount of energy and ignorance displayed by so many of 
the great men of the century in opposing unpalatable 
truths, and in supposing that a priori arguments, accusa- 
tions of imposture, or insanity, or personal abuse were the 
proper means of determining matters of fact and of obser- 
vation in any department of human knowledge." 

It is needless to quote Sir Willaim Crookes for his de- 
fense of telepathy has become familiar to the civilized 
world, and his deductions founded on induction are not to 
be laughed away. 

If the materialistic philosophers will but devote serious 
study to the psychic life in micro-organisms and follow it 
step by step in the human endowment they will find much 
that has been corroborated in the ancient thought of India 
and Egypt. Even the Jains, a comparatively small sect in 



132 



India, have a scientific literature which treats elaborately 
of the minute divisions of the human beings, and their wise 
men have long before the discovery of the microscope, as 
Virchand A. Ghandi told us at the Parliament of Religions 
in Chicago, been able to tell how many organs of sense the 
minutest animalcule has, and he referred his hearers to 
Jain biology, zoology, botany, anatomy and physiology. 
Their excellent psychology was founded on the psychic life 
of micro-organisms. And the largest encyclopedic work 
in existence is the Buddhist Tangym including 255 vol- 
umes. In Thibit is another vast collection; and Brahmani- 
cal as well as Hindoo literature is correspondingly large. 

It would seem as if the excellent work begun by Gen- 
evese, Peter Huber (1810) had been almost suffocated by 
the dogmatism of the materialists. He proved by observa- 
tion and experiment in the study of ants that they could 
communicate with each other at a distance by a language 
of which the methods elude us. Even the ancient Egyptians 
believed this of the scarabee. 

When the Theosophist endeavors to introduce Oriental 
thought and uses the terminology peculiar to the Eastern 
investigators, Vibrations being one of the important clas- 
sifications in the processes of Nature, the specialist in a 
department of Yv r estern thought is apt to sneer at the words 
which are used only as vehicles of thought. Here less tol- 
erance is shown than in the colleges of India. No teacher 
there would object to Tyndall's terse terms, such as, where- 
in he speaks of the ether: 

"This all pervading substance takes up their molecular 
tremors and conveys them with inconceivable rapidity to 
our organs of vision. It is the transported shiver of bodies 
countless millions of miles distant, which translates itself 
into the human consciousness, etc." 

The Oriental can surpass Tyndall in glorious imagery 
and subtle reasoning, but both mean the same thing, and 



in attempting to make plain to the student the procedure 
we must use such striking figures of speech as are available. 

But even an occasional Theosophist has not proved 
himself infallible or carefully "judicious as, for instance, 
in adopting the word "astral" into the terminology. At 
its ultimate analysis it proves to be but the lowest plane 
of vibration of the all pervading Akasa, or ether in modern 
science. The word and its accompanying thought has 
wrought mischief in the ranks of the non-studious members 
of the Society who apparently forget that it is not an es- 
sential in the teachings. When the author of these papers 
delivered a lecture in Washington a few years ago, attempt- 
ing to explain that the real meaning in the Sanscrit was 
a projection of consciousness, not the astral body, some 
sharp criticisms followed, but happily, there seem to be 
others, in India, who are endeavoring to make clear the 
teaching, as witness the following from "The Theosophical 
Revieiv (December, 1900) published simultaneously at 
Adyar, Madras, and Benares: 

"Now there are many terms current among Theosophi- 
cal writers which could easily be improved; of these we 
will instance only one, and from one we can learn to esti- 
mate the value of the rest. The term 'astral' is a literary 
abomination. It has no raison d'etre; it is a medieval in- 
vention tangled up with the misunderstood tradition of as- 
trologism. It has a precise meaning you will say, and we 
must be precise in these scientific days. It had a precise 
meaning in the days of Paracelsus, for it designated the 
subtle envelope influenced by the stars. But nowadays 
there are thousands of people who accept the idea of the 
'astral body' but who are not prepared to ascribe any valid- 
ity to the 'science of the stars.' They may be right or they 
may be wrong in the claims of astrology, but it is unwise to 
tie round the neck of the doctrine of a psychic envelope in 
man what the majority regard as the millstone of astrolo- 
gism, and this is practically what is done by labelling it 
'astral.' " 

The loosely used term, "astral-body," has been made to 



134 



cover every kind of phantasmal or "spiritual" appearance 
of the human form, all under the psychic powers latent in 
Man, and the well directed jest that Theosophists are the 
only people who can be in two places at the same time 
would be well merited if such teachings were allowed to 
continue. 

Conan Doyle in his "Mystery of Cloomber" aimed to 
make a book that would sell, and by pandering to the "eter- 
nal gullible" he succeeded at the risk of building the great- 
est marvel on astral bodies yet conceived in the fertile im- 
agination of any novelist of our day. 

F. Marion Crawford was not far behind in his "Mr. 
Isaacs." Both these fertile authors had warrant for their 
plots in the silly stuff put out by certain Theosophical 
writers, and having thus the material furnished, they had 
to do that which the successful novelist aims to do on the 
sub rosa understanding of the craft — "If you are going to 
lie, tell a big one. It pays." 

During the last decade the scientists of the Western 
thought have devoted some attention to the evolutionary 
feature of psychical development. Anthropological socie- 
ties refer to Huxley's pioneer work in 1863 — "Man's Place 
in Nature." The Theosophist has studied his utterances 
with candor and found that when he is guided by specialists 
the following paragraph is not alluded to: 

"At the same time no one is more strongly convinced 
than I am of the vastness of the gulf between civilized man 
and the brutes; or is more certain that whether from them 
or not, he is assuredly not of them. No one is less disposed 
to think lightly of the present dignity, or despairingly of 
the future hopes, of the only consciously intelligent deni- 
zens of the world." 

And this "only consciously intelligent denizen of the 
world" is the Man, the Thinker, the Knower, of Theosophic 
thought. He is formed in his psychical endowment of the 
combined attributes of all below him. He carries all phases 

135 



of psychical activity that can be discovered from the micro- 
organisms, to the most intelligent of the animals. He is 
the sum total of all, yet we can say with Huxley, that he 
is not of them, even if indirectly from them. 

A word on the phases of thought which pass under the 
labels of Mental Science, Christian Science, etc. From the 
point of view of the investigating Theosophist, they, like 
all schools, have much good in them, and much that can be 
discarded as non-essential. Mental Science leads in rational 
and consistent presentation. It has proven its claims in 
thousands of instances and will continue to grow into favor 
if it can clear its camp streets of demagogues and charla- 
tans. It has the seal of approval of all antiquity on its side 
when properly represented, and be it said to the credit of 
the school, it is consistently, persistently and sincerely en- 
deavoring to get at the real fundamentals of the Psychic 
Fowers latent in Man. The able scholarship already enlist- 
ed in its cause will save it, finally, from those who for av- 
arice and greed have brought disrepute upon its teachings, 
and the same may be said of Theosophy. 

But as to Christian Science, while the thousands who 
are now in its culture are sincere, and praiseworthy for 
laudable effort, nevertheless the charge can be filed that 
they have not exercised with vigor all the thought with 
which they have been endowed. Why the term "Christian" 
should be appropriated is an enigma to the scientific archae- 
ologist as well as to the careful philologist. Reduced to 
its simplest statement, it is a school for will-culture, and 
properly conducted, as it is in many instances, merits more 
praise than sneers; but the method is very old. It would 
have been nearer the spirit of stern equity had it been la- 
belled Pagan Science, for the pagans excelled on the same 
lines anything which has yet been presented under the dis- 
cipline of the Christian school. A transition is already dis- 
cernible; schisms are reported and for just cause. It will 

136 



be found an utterly impossible feat for Mrs. Eddy in her 
official capacity as pontiff to hinder investigation in this 
scientific age. Science will purify the thought of her fol- 
lowers and correct errors as it ever has when allowed free 
scope. It has purified religion to a great extent and the 
process is still in active operation. Mrs. Eddy's fundamental 
concepts are as far from scientific demonstration as was 
that of St. Augustine whom some Christians regard as 
gifted with an insight into the ultimate realities. 

Theosophists here and there are "healers" as well as 
Christian Scientists, but they do not tag their method with 
any name, nor do they accept money for their work on such 
lines. If they find that because of a peculiar endowment, 
which is common to certain individualities of the race as 
far back as human records go, they are enabled to do a fel- 
low mortal a service, it is rendered freely and without pe- 
cuniary charge. If a tag is really necessary to the Theoso- 
phist, any, or all, can be used: Krishna Science, Zoroastrian 
Science, Buddhistic Science, Osirian Science, Mahometan 
Science, even Mormon Science, for some of the Mormons 
have developed as high powers on this line as others of the 
moderns, but they are all included from a Theosophist's 
point of view under the Psychic Powers latent in man. 

The Theosophist has allied his investigation to that of 
the best of the medical profession which recognizes that 
the aim of medicine is not to destroy the disease, but rather 
to stimulate the resisting forces of the body. On this line 
of treatment the whole logic of a profession assumes a new 
aspect, and with it all phases of psycho-therapeutics under 
whatever name. The real danger in all the systems rely- 
ing on mental agencies, while helpful when wisely employ- 
ed, is, that they lead to the neglect of ordinary medical 
treatment. The physical system when invaded by an over- 
whelming force of the "little lives" so well explained in the 
old Sanscrit and ror>nc, :nized in modern practice as microbes, 

137 



bacteria, etc., needs more than the powers of the best will 
culture to dislodge the already fortified enemy from their 
well entrenched captured territory. 

More than one inquiring mind has asked the author 
after a lecture devoted to the latent powers within, "What 
of the forces which must come from without?" This can 
best be answered by grouping all under the convenient term 
of the scientist — "the environmental stimuli. " The Theoso- 
phist fully appreciates the desire of the investigator who 
seeks to know. A full answer to all is thus far, in research, 
beyond the grasp of any mind now functioning on earth. 
Recall the quotation from Laplace. We are far from know- 
ing all. But the teachings of the old sages of the East are 
more explicit than any given modern science. When such 
a broad generalization as "environmental stimuli" is given, 
let it be taken for granted as the Theosophist is taught that 
the whole universe is our environment, and we are far from 
knowing all the forces inherent in the "great all" which 
stimulate. The message bearing action from without acting 
on the within, even in a single case requires deep and 
searching study. But general principles prevail; nothing- 
can be evolved which was not at first involved. The inter- 
action of the two constant forces involves a comprehension 
on all planes — physical, mental, psychic, spiritual. In The- 
osophic teaching, Man is directly in communication with 
each of these planes. According to his self-induced effort 
will he respond to outside stimulus. In the realm of psy- 
chism alone, without a scientific habit of thought he be- 
comes the prey of dangerous forces, which lead to mental 
and spiritual wreck. 

A quotation from the second of the lectures of Professor 
Brinton on "Religion of Primitive Peoples" will serve to 
awaken a desire for further search into this interesting 
study: 

"Such are some of the potent stimuli which stir the 

138 



depths of man's psychical nature, awakening in him the be- 
lief in unknown powers far beyond his ability to measure or 
cope with. Not from any conscious act of intelligence, not 
from any process of voluntary reasoning, is that belief 
born, but from the unknown, the unplumbed abyss of the 
sub-conscious mind. 

Let not this be considered as something degrading to 
the religious conceptions themselves. Though all are drawn 
from out the human spirit [soul] itself, and are nowise the 
direct relatives their believers think them, yet who dare 
measure the height and the depth of the sub-conscious in- 
telligence? It draws its knowledge from sources which 
elude scientific research, from the strange powers which 
ive perceive in insects, and other lower animals, almost, but 
not wholly, obliterated in the human line of organic de- 
scent; and from others, now merely nascent or embryonic, 
new senses, destined in some far off aeon to endow our pos- 
terity with faculties as wondrous to us as would be sight 
to the sightless." 

The Theosophist can readily endorse the statement of 
the eminent Professor, that the subliminal depths draw 
"Knowledge from sources which elude scientific research" 
but he will as readily maintain that great investigators of 
old have drawn much that is unknown to the modern re- 
searcher, and this stored knowledge is available in the eso- 
teric books of the Sages. On that knowledge one of old was 
enabled to write for all posterity in the Sanscrit 
Upanishads: 

"There is xo limit to the knowing of the Self that 

KNOWS." 



139 



CHAPTER IX. 



TRANSCENDENTALISM, MYSTICISM, OCCULTISM, ES- 
OTERIC ISM, AND OTHER TECHNICAL TERMS. 

When the carper refers to certain high-flown terms 
which he has seen in Theosophical terminology, he is at 
pains to state that in the "whirligig of time" these things 
appear in the evolution of thought, but he has not for a 
moment considered that the Theosophist uses the word 
"Cycles" to express the same idea. A strict defining of 
both would bring the two minds en rapport. But whether 
cycle or whirligig, the following extract which will explain 
itself, is from the pen of John Quincy Adams. 

"The sentiment of religion is at this time, perhaps, 
more potent and prevailing in New England than in any 
other portion of the Christian world. For many years the 
establishment of the Theological school at Andover, 
the Calvinists and the Unitarians have been bat- 
tling with each other upon the Atonement, the 
Divinity of Jesus Christ, and the Trinity. This 
has very much subsided, but this wandering of minds 
takes the place of that and equally lets the wolf into 
the fold. A young man named Ralph Waldo Emerson, a 
son of my once loved friend, William Emerson, and a class- 
mate of my lamented George, after failing in the every-day 
avocation of a Unitarian preacher and schoolmaster, starts 
a new doctrine of Transcendentalism, declares all the old 
revelations superannuated and worn out and announces the 
approach of new revelations and prophesies." 

One in a million to-day may, perhaps, recite a line or 
word, of what the dead Adams may have said or written, 
but millions in all languages are hoarding as jewels the 



140 



aphorisms of Emerson. His works have been translated 
into the tongues of all thinking peoples, and the remarkable 
tendency at present is to more fully grasp what was so 
feebly understood even by his intimate friends, when Adams 
and others were denouncing him, and labelling his teach- 
ings as the "saturnalia, or excess of faith." Emerson was 
the first to introduce the deeper thought into America, and 
it is safe to say that there are more unenrolled Theosophists 
of the Emersonian cast of mind, than ever were on the 
rosters of the Society. 

A generation preceding, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 
impressed the thought of his day with sublimer conceptions 
of the universe, his "Westoestlicher Divan," a remarkable 
collection of Oriental songs and poems, surviving the thun- 
ders of the partisan pulpits and altars of Germany and 
neighboring bigoted nations. 

A century cycle back of the transcendental Goethe an- 
other great soul appeared — Gottfried Wilhelni Leibnitz, to 
whom, (the authorities now seem willing to agree), the 
credit is given for discovering the differential calculus in- 
dependently of any knowledge of Newton's method of flux- 
ions, so that each of these great men in reality attained the 
same result for himself. And authorities equally eminent 
are willing to agree that in the advanced state of our 
thought, he is entitled to the crown of victory in contro- 
verting Locke's rejection of innate ideas, holding that there 
are necessary truths which cannot be learned from experi- 
ence, but are innate in the soul, capable of being called forth 
by circumstances. The pulpit curses against him were 
strong enough to bewilder the populace and prejudice those 
in civil authority against him, for his funeral was shunned 
by royalty and its retinue to which, he by right had claims; 
also by the learned societies to which he belonged, for fear 
of pulpit ostracism. Yet his statue in majestic grandeur 
stands forth in the National Library building at Washing- 



ton, an answer to the world that "truth crushed to earth 
will reincarnate," as the Theosophist puts it. The heresies 
of yesterday are the beliefs of to-day. 

Transcendentalism is so much an accomplished fact in 
the present exalted consciousness that it is doubtful if even 
a materialistic thinker can be found who will care to state 
that a human being can exist in the realm of pure thought, 
without betraying the very evidence of a something trans- 
cendent. It is not many years ago since a Washington sci- 
entist who had earned the reputation of very definite ma- 
terialistic thinking., in a brochure accepted without spice 
or scruples the term "Transcendental Biology." 

Back of Leibnitz, reaching to Plato, and far back to the 
sages of the older world, the Transcendentalists have left 
the most enduring crystallizations of thought. When prop- 
erly understood, the term loses much of the odium which 
has been cast upon it by an ultra school. As used in the 
philosophy of Kant, applied to all those principles of knowl- 
edge which are original and primary, involving such nec- 
essary and strictly universal truths as to transcend all 
truth derived from experience, which must always be con- 
tingent and particular, the term was accepted by a large 
following of philosophical thinkers, but the Theosophist, in 
his comprehension of Truth, as a whole, is not a Kantian, 
nor is he, if a thorough-going Theosophist, a follower of any 
special school; by his very habit of thought brought about 
by training in Theosophical class-rooms, he is a synthe- 
sizer; he puts all together because there is good in all. The 
process of elimination is an arduous one; the forever reach- 
ing for the "picked minority of the qualified fittest" re- 
quires his noblest effort, but always, and in all, he is a 
transcendentalist for he is, ever on this plane of vibration, 
reminded that: 

"These are the things you see; 
The unseen things are more." 



142 



If the average reader cannot be convinced by the 
reasoning coupled with the intuitions of the Transcenden- 
talism of the practicability of such teachings, perhaps a 
partial entrance into his consciousness may be effected by 
simply quoting the well known, but not so well understood, 
saying of that master of English epigrams: 

"There are more things in heaven and earth than are 
dreamed of in your philosophy." 

When Theodore Parker, in 1847, said of Emerson: ''I 
believe he is having a greater influence on the thought of 
the world than any man living," he but expressed the opin- 
ion of the deepest thinkers of the day, however reluctantly 
they may have acquiesced in the statement. There is no 
dispute as to the fact judged from the present power of his 
transcendental teachings. He prepared the soil of Puritan- 
ical New England for the sowing of the Theosophical 
thought, but at a great cost of effort. He wrote "Nature" 
in 1836 and it took twelve years to sell 500 copies. In 1847 
while Parker was clinging to "Locke on the Human Under- 
standing," and Bronson Alcott hugging his Plato, Emerson 
was delving deeply into the Bhavagad Gita, a text-book in 
Theosophical classes always. This was about thirty years 
before the formation of the Theosophical Society in New 
York. 

The incident related by Charles Malloy concerning the 
purchase at a book stall, in London, of a second-hand copy 
of the Bhavagad Gita, by Emerson, may seem trivial to 
those who have not studied the ancient wisdom. It could 
not be chance; it was his Karma to encounter it then and 
there. When he came to America and gave forth his com- 
prehensive interpretations, a mutual friend asked Theodore 
Parker what he thought of Emerson going so deeply into 
the Gita. Parker answered that he feared Emerson did not 
understand it. His questioner replied, "I don't think he 
does understand it — as you do." 

143 



Here was the secret of Emerson's teaching which so 
staggered not only John Quincy Adams but others; they 
could not possibly understand it as Emerson did; they were 
simply not prepared for it; had not reached that limit of 
inspiration in the evolution of mind. The present genera- 
tion assimilates it readily. Yet Emerson was actually 
teaching all the essentials of Theosophy, viz. — the Perfect- 
ibility of Man, brought about by repeated lives (Reincarna- 
tion) compelled by the force of Karma (the law of cause 
and effect, action and reaction). 

He wrote the poem — '"Brahma," publishing it in the 
first number of the Atlantic Monthly, in June, 1857, nearly 
twenty years before the Theosophical Society was formed, 
and though it brought forth the ridicule of the superficial 
reader, it contained, as his best biographer, Charles Malloy 
states, the whole of the Gita. Let the Theosophical student 
scan it studiously and see if it does not: 

"If the red slayer think he slays 
Or if the slain think he is slain. 
They know not well the subtle ways 
I keep and pass and turn again. 

They reckon ill who leave me out; 
When me .they fly, I am the wings; 
I am the doubter and the doubt, 
And I the hymn the Brahmin sings." 

In those days this was transcendental with a power, 
but not more so to the student than another poem from 
which the following is an extract, and a convenient one 
for a scientific series of lectures which now gladly publish 
it on the covers of each book; 

"A subtle chain of countless rings, 
The next unto the farthest brings; 
The eye reads omens where it goes, 
And speaks all languages the rose; 
And striving to be man, the worm 
Mounts through all the spires of form." 



1U 



And this bold statement of the doctrine of Evolution 
was made in 1847, ten years before Darwin's "Origin of 
Species," and twenty years before "The Descent of Man." 
Yet the same thought, paraphrased by a Theosophical speak- 
er from the platform during the first year of the Twentieth 
Century is met by an exclamation from a newspaper in 
New York in the following strain: 

"Surely here is wisdom from the gods and it takes the 
gods to understand it." 

And surely here again it may be returned that from the 
sordid setting of certain editorial chairs no seraphic faces 
could be expected to glow and gleam with the purest and 
intensest light while dollars and cents represent all that is 
transcendent in their environment. The motive force urg- 
ing man towards the attainment of his ideals is the trans- 
cendent with the Emersonian student, and the transcendent 
is now, after struggle for perfection, in the ascendant. As 
a school of thought it is here to stay. 

Mysticism has, somehow, with a bad odor, entered into 
current writings and sayings, being the next stage, the nec- 
essary product of Transcendentalism, so it is said, and is 
set up by many who ought to know better, for that which 
is vague and illusive in philosophy. John Stuart Mill is 
frequently quoted, wherein he states that: "Whether in the 
Vedas, in the Platonists, or in the Hegelians, mysticism is 
neither more nor less than ascribing objective existence to 
the subjective creations of our own faculties, to ideas or 
feelings of the mind, and believing that, by matching and 
contemplating these ideas of its own making it can read in 
them what takes place in the world without." 

There is more than a grain of truth in the charge, yet 
mysticism properly understood is not the frightful bugbear 
it has been sketched. Certain aspects of it deserve rebuke, 
and certain devotees calling themselves Theosophists are 
not guiltless of foisting upon the school a vapid mysticism 

ii 145 



from degenerated teachings of the East, begotten of brain- 
diseased monks and recluses. 

Professor Goldwin Smith says, speaking as he thinks 
he does, for the culture of modern times, that we are done 
with mysticism forever; but Balfour in his "Foundations 
of Belief" claims that it always has been, as it always will 
be. a factor in the exalted consciousness of man. These op- 
posite conclusions from two English writers suggests to 
the man on the street, that he may pay his money and take 
his choice. 

The thinking man of our epoch will be keen enough to 
note that, whereas Prof. Goldwin Smith in his "Guesses at 
the Riddle of Existence" attempts the role of a severe critic 
and wants to deal a blow at mysticism (for which he can- 
not be censured considering what has passed under the 
term for centuries) nevertheless as a thinker, and a free 
one at that, he betrays the pure mysticism which is innate 
and which he could no more shake off than he could his 
very soul force. Scattered through his book are the follow- 
ing expressions which clinch the intrinsic, the stored 
ripeness of his own wisdom, and which a Theosophist who 
can retain belief in a i>iysticisni properly interpreted, 
respectfully refers to the candid reader, as evidence that 
Balfour is right when he declares that it remains an un- 
dying element in our nature: 

"If there is a soul of the universe, and if it holds com- 
munion in any way with the soul of man, such a belief 
would seem likely to be no mere hallucination/' 

"It is conceivable that good and beautiful character 
may be prized by the soul of the universe, if the universe 
has a soul, as capable with union with itself, and that it 
may thus transcend the limits of our being here. If this 
is but a hint, on a question so dark and of such overwhelm- 
ing importance, we may gladly welcome the faintest gleam 
of light." 

"Good character only could have a life-giving affinity 
to the power of good. 



146 



"Here, if at any point in history, we may believe that 
the spirit of the world, if the world has a spirit, was at 
work." 

"These things may even be accepted on the supposed ev- 
idence of a spiritual sense illuminated by divine influence." 

"We fail to conceive infinity, yet we are sure the uni- 
verse is infinite. For the purpose of natural theology it 
might be well to say Power or Soul of the Universe, instead 
of God." 

All this from a mind severely taxed by the rigid meth- 
ods of exact induction, and an apparent self-forced position 
not to accept any thing, unless coordinated to sense rela- 
tions, is remarkable, and whether the eminent writer may 
will or no, the mystic process as above confessed is clearly 
working in his mind. He is, however, a fair example of 
the so-called brainy men of our day who rely mainly on 
the testimony of the senses. 

However, the opposite extreme should not be resorted 
to, according to the counsel of the sages during the ages. 
The intoxication of the mind should not be allowed to pass 
as mysticism. We are too far advanced in the science oi 
Psychology in this progressive age not to be able to mark 
the line which legitimately separates the two methods of 
entering states of consciousness. 

But a word from another thinker can throw light upon 
the problem. Camille Plammarion in his chapter on In- 
credulity in his recent work — "The Unknown" says: 

"In analyzing the testimony of our senses we find that 
they can deceive us absolutely. We see the sun, the moon 
and the stars revolving, as it seems to us, round us. That 
is all false. We feel that the earth is motionless. That is 
false, too. We see the sun rise above the horizon. It is 
beneath us. We touch what we think is a solid. There is 
no such thing. We hear harmonious sounds; but the air 
has only brought us silently undulations that are silent 
themselves. We admire the effects of light and of the col- 
ors that bring vividly before our eyes the splendid scenes 
of nature; but in fact there is no light, there are no colors. 



147 



It is the movement of opaque ether striking on our optic 
nerve which gives us the impression of light. We burn our 
foot in the fire; it is not the foot that pains us, it is in our 
brain only that the feeling of being burned resides. We 
speak of heat and cold; there is neither heat nor cold in 
the universe, only motion. Thus our senses mislead us as to 
the reality of objects round us. Sensation and reality are 
two different things. 

"August Comte and Littre have apparently striven to 
trace out for science its definite, its positive way. It tells 
us we are only to admit what we can see, or can touch, 
or what we have heard. We are to receive nothing except the 
clear evidence of our senses, and we are not to endeavor 
to know what is unknowable. For a half century these 
have been the rules which have regulated science in the 
world." 

So it seems that it is possible for a false science to 
exist, as well as a false mysticism. The canons of common 
sense should regulate both. John Stuart Mill in the quota- 
tion, from his point of view, saw mysticism in its irrational 
form. The world has been filled with it for centuries. The 
archaeologist traces it to the temples of Egypt whence it 
percolated to the Sinaitic peninsula. It is found in its ex- 
travagant cast wherever monasticism has endeavored to 
do that which John Stuart Mill charges — "the ascribing ob- 
jective existence to the subjective creations of our facul- 
ties." So that, if a monk sets out to see his Lord, he will 
see him; he works himself toward that end until his brain 
has become physiologically diseased, and he, in addition, 
has become psychically insane. The Buddhistic monk 
can cultivate trance states and realize the object sought for 
in apparition, more speedily because of the better methods 
of training. The monks of Rama, claiming to be the oldest 
as an order now in existence, by certain practices outdo 
them all. Every nation, of which we have recovered record, 
exhibits procedure which approaches the now acknowledged 
delusions of overwrought psychical practices. 

But the Theosophical student does not forget in his re- 



148 



search, the declaration of Herbert Spencer that in such uni- 
versal customs we are to search for the truth in them, for 
they are founded on truth. And the truth we find, when 
we attain to a true apprehension of what a true mystic may 
reach. He aims for reality. In many cases, differing in de- 
gree, not in kind, the real has been found. Whether we 
adopt the reasoning of Recejac in his "Basis of the Mystic 
Knowledge" or follow Professor Ladd in his "Philosophy of 
Knowledge," or have recourse to the declarations of many 
of the wisest of the wise who have ever lived on earth, 
we are forced to the belief that in Freedom alone, can each 
for himself, attain to that which will be true for himself, 
and for no other self unless that self can take it as belong- 
ing to itself. But the revelation will come to him through 
intuition, and not by sensation through the intellect. 

The moment we reach the plane of thought where we 
rest conviction on what comes through the intuition we en- 
counter afresh, the assaults of that class of thinkers who 
deny that there can be certitude in intuitional knowledge, 
and, the issue being joined on this point, we come to the 
discussion of another term which has become a veritable 
bogy — Occultism. 

The easiest way to open the case before the great public 
jury, which shall determine as to facts, is to refer, in pas- 
sing, to a strenuous effort by Professor Joseph Jastrow, Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin, in the Popular Science Monthly, Sep- 
tember, 1900, on "The Modern Occult." Twenty-four pages 
are devoted to the threshing of opinions on cer- 
tain ideas which were old before Christianity 
began, old before the Pyramids were built, and 
as old as the Proto-Aryan, if we ever find traces of 
that first stock. Forasmuch as the Professor's effort may 
tend to morally criminate the many phases therein discuss- 
ed, including Christian Science, Spiritualism and other 
cults let these appear in court by attorney, or in person, 

149 



as they may choose. The appearance herewith is in behalf 
of Theosophy, which is traversed in the complaint with 
some specification and detail. 

But, inasmuch as less scoring is exhibited toward this 
culture as compared with the others, it would seem as if 
the school was not quite so reprehensible. Due regard for 
chivalrous treatment should also be acknowledged, for 
in closing that particular section of the contribution the 
following is given: 

"The modern Theosophist seeks to appeal to men and 
women of philosophical inclinations, for whom an element 
of mysticism has its charm, and who are intellectually at 
unrest with the conceptions underlying modern science and 
modern life. Such persons are quite likely to be well edu- 
cated, refined and sincere. We may believe them intellect- 
ually misguided; we may recognize the fraud to which 
their leader resorted to glorify her creed, but we must 
equally recognize the absence of many pernicious tenden- 
cies in their teachings which characterize other and more 
practical occult movements." 

This is gracious treatment in a fighter who seeks the 
aggressive. Theosophists as graciously bow to the Pro- 
fessor and proceed to thank him for the deserved compli- 
ment, for it has been amply demonstrated in all parts of 
the world that Theosophists are quite likely to be "well edu- 
cated, refined and sincere." It is equally as true that there 
can be discovered an "absence of many pernicious tenden- 
cies in their teachings which characterize other and more 
practical occult movements." 

As to the rebukes given, both direct and implied, a gen- 
uine Theosophist will again render thanks, if the charges 
are true. He is a friend who can convince a friend of 
fault, and he is the truest friend who can receive a merited 
admonition when given in a friendly spirit. The Theoso- 
phist embodies such friendly action in the teachings. It 
comes down from the sages and is evident in Theosophical 
literature. 



150 



But, in a trial before the tribunal of the public con- 
sciousness, stern justice will allow the Theosophist a fair 
defense; he may be heard. So, admitting part of what has 
been charged, a specific denial can be entered as to many 
of the allegations therein. Thus, while it may be true that 
the attitude of the student of occultism is that of one seek- 
ing to solve an enigma, to find the key to a strange puzzle, 
it is not as equally true, because a few of the ultra class 
adopt such practice, that the studious Theosophist will 
start search for a ''mystic charm, some talismanic formula, 
some magical procedure, which shall dispel the mist that 
hides the face of nature and expose her secrets to his ec- 
static gaze." There have lived in the history of the world 
many who could be enumerated under such a class, but Pro- 
fessor Jastrow is utterly ignorant of the intensely earnest 
methods of the Theosophist if he assumes that such prac- 
tices are countenanced. His utterances have weight be- 
cause he is the occupant of an important Chair in a univer- 
sity which does credit to the state of Wisconsin, hence the 
necessity of meeting such statements by a bold denial. A. 
Theosophist aims by honest, persistent effort to "dispel the 
mist,' and this is the one all-encompassing, masterful effort 
by which the correct solution is to be discovered or re- 
vealed. 

We have diligent students in the realm of Psychology 
in the Theosophical classes of every nation on the globe. 
They inherit psychological teachings from past-masters in 
that science of mental operations and states of conscious- 
ness, that were thousands of years old before a chair of 
psychology had been endowed in Wisconsin or any other 
place in the Occident. These ancient teachers long ago set- 
tled the truth contained in the following by Professor 
Jastrow : 

"As our ordinary senses and faculties are obviously in- 
sufficient to accomplish such ends," etc. 

15] 



This is exactly the position of the modern Theosophist. 
But it is not fair, not true, that to accomplish such ends, 
"supernatural powers must be appealed to," for the Theoso- 
phist has from the beginning tabooed the word supernatu- 
ral. The "supersensuous" is admitted, and if this realm is 
not recognized in the classes taught in the said university, 
it is, perhaps, because the teaching is yet in its infancy. 
There are Professors in the colleges of India who could 
teach a few things of importance to such an institution. 

As to the specification that "a transcendental sphere of 
spiritual activity must be cultivated capable of perceiving 
through the hidden symbolism of apparent phenomena, the 
underlying relations of cosmic structure and final pur- 
poses," the answer could well be sustained that such a 
charge could apply not only to a Theosophist, but to an 
Emerson, because of his writings; to Fiske, because of his 
"Cosmic Philosophy"; to every exalted state of conscious- 
ness which has manifested in the flesh as far back as 
human records go. 

The gist of the case appears in the next step of the Pro- 
fessor's argument. He maintains that to reach this trans- 
cendental sphere, which "form of occultism reaches its full- 
est and purest expression in Oriental wisdom-religions, 
long periods of training and devotion, seclusion, con- 
templation of inner mysteries, lead the initiate through the 
various stages of adeptship up to the final plane of com- 
munism with the infinite and the comprehension of truth 
in all things." 

Now, with all due deference to the Professor, who is 
esteemed by the author because of his eminence in other 
departments of scientific thought, and because of his chival- 
rous deportment as an antagonist on any question, — it is 
sufficient to state flatly, that he could not have been well- 
informed on the subject which so earnestly engaged his 
attention. 



152 



The Theosophical Society in America, to which the 
author is allied as a member, never held any such ideas. 
Indeed, the very opposite is the teaching. Our duties are 
in this world; we are here, as we believe, by the law of 
Karma; personally we had no choice as to the coming, 
and we shall have as little as to our going; but we are of 
this world, and shall not attempt to run away from it. 
Our duties are in the world, not in caves, nor in cave-tem- 
ples, nor in crypts, nor in monasteries, nor in seclusion 
anywhere. Even if an opportunity should offer, and a re- 
treat be furnished, a true Theosophist would disdain to 
accept the training. We stand witn Dr. Lyman Abbott, in 
his "Theology of an Evolutionist": 

"Man cannot grow from innocence to virtue without 
temptation. * * * * There can be no virtue without 
temptation, An untempted soul may be innocent, but can- 
not be virtuous, for virtue is the choice of right when 
wrong presses itself upon us and demands our choosing. 
How can we have courage, unless there is danger and ap- 
prehension of the danger? How can we have patience, un- 
less there are burdens to be borne and a desire to remove 
the burdens? How can we have fidelity, unless there is 
some trust to be maintained and some temptation calling 
on us to leave the trust and be false to it? The scorn of the 
'goody-goody' is justified, for 'goody-goody' is innocence, 
not virtue; and the boy who never does anything wrong 
because he never does anything at an is of no use in the 
world. Temptation is struggle, and virtue emerges from 
struggle. And we cannot have the choice of right without 
the possibility of doing wrong." 

The "long periods of training in seclusion by contem- 
plation of inner mysteries and the leading of the initiate 
through the various stages up to adeptship" may have a 
charm for a certain class of Theosophists who belong to 
other camps, but if they continue to press such teachings 
upon this Western life, which of itself came about through 
the law of Karma, certainly not by chance, the inevitable 



153 



result must be that the discriminating public will accept 
the conclusion of Professor Jastrow: 

"But when such views are forcibly transplanted to our 
age and clime, when they are decked in garments so unlike 
their original vestments, particularly when they are asso- 
ciated with dubious practices and come into violent con- 
flict with the truth that has accumulated since they first 
had birth, their aspect is profoundly altered and they 
come within the circle of the modern occult." 

Hence, it is not surprising that criticism should seek 
the warrant by which such transplanted practices evolve 
into schools for training, and a supposed curriculum for a 
college, the object of which is the revival of the Ancient 
Mysteries. Surely, there is cause for the Professor's dec- 
laration that they are "decked in garments so unlike their 
original vestments, particularly when they are associated 
with dubious practices," and the ardent students of the 
ancient lore are innocently burdened with the opprobrium 
thus cast upon them. 

The practical American citizen will be sure to ask if 
even the most conscientious Theosophical student knows 
aught of the Ancient Mysteries. An equally practical an- 
swer from a Theosophical point of view is that there is 
nothing hidden that shall not be found out. It is not 
claimed that all has been found; but much has been re- 
covered. 

Will it be denied that Gen. Albert Pike, whose monu- 
ment is seen in Washington, did not recover much of the 
essential meaning of the ancient teachings? The reader is 
respectfully referred to his "Morals and Dogma," a work 
that should be studied by all earnest searchers. Or will it 
be denied again that the equally arduous effort of Gerald 
Massey passes for naught? And what of the long line of 
archaeological explorers since the first publication of the 
work of Champollion? Every civilized nation has, to-day, 
somewhere in the East, one or more expeditions seeking to 

154 



recover the ancient thought, and they are succeeding with 
marvellous accuracy. 

The long and useful career of Prof. Max Muller as a 
teacher should count for something on this line, and this is 
what he said in his "What India Can Teach Us": 

"If I were asked under what sky the human mind has 
most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most 
deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has 
found solutions of them which well deserve the attention 
of those who have studied Plato and Kant, I should point 
to India? 

"If I were to ask myself from what literature, we here 
in Europe, may draw that corrective which is most 
wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more 
comprehensive, more universal, and, in fact, more truly 
human a life, not for this life only, but for a transfigured 
and eternal life, again I should point to India." 

The Theosophist endeavors to assimilate this teaching 
so highly recommended. The Society has for twenty-five 
years been earnest in its research. It has been found prof- 
itable. But in this finding, there is no aggressive effort to 
thrust such gained insight upon the American conscious- 
ness. There should be no bigoted fling at Theosophists be- 
cause they have found by the comparative method, begin- 
ning with the Vedas of India, that there is good in all 
scriptures, and plenty of error in each, even under the 
"shadow of the cross" to quote the flingers. 

As to another pleading from another source, of a parti- 
san zealot, that "far away and beyond the superficial fasci 
nation and glamor of these old religions, there is that in 
them which fails to convince and control even the most ig- 
norant child of Christianity," allow the Theosophist, in 
addition to Prof. Max Muller, to name Prof. Flint, in the 
stronghold of Scotch Presbyterians who, in his lectures to 
the universities declared again and again that the teachings 
of the Sanscrit and Pali writings were "needed to modify 
Christianity, and modify it for the better." 

155 



Dr. Paul Deussen, of the University of Kiel, Germany, 
is not graded by broad men as an "ignorant child," yet he 
declares, on issuing recently his second volume of the 
voluminous history of philosophy, that the culminating 
point of human thought, Vedic and pre-Buddhistic, has 
never been excelled. 

Rev. Lyman Abbott, and a galaxy of liberal Christians 
of our day, including all our poets, in particular, are not 
to be classed as "ignorant children" yet they have borrowed, 
and so openly acknowledge, great ideas from Oriental 
thought, and the able Theosophical periodicals now pub- 
lished in every reading nation testify by their intrinsic 
merit that they are not anti-Christian. Nevertheless, these 
same publications find ancient and venerable imposture in 
all religions, and Christianity has an abundant share. It 
is found, too, that religions make Bibles, and not Bibles re- 
ligions. The foundations of religions are deeper than 
books, and to reach the depths which contain the basic 
principles is the effort of true Occultism, however little 
Professor Jastrow may apprehend this important fact. 

While an additional specification admits that because 
of a growth of a more rational consciousness "miracles are 
no longer performed, and no immediately practical ends 
are proclaimed," nevertheless, "the Mahatmas are giving 
intellectual instructions, enormously more interesting than 
even the exhibition of their abnormal powers." This leads 
the average reader again to the conclusion that Theoso- 
phists still continue to believe in the miraculous, even 
though it is said "miracles are no longer performed." As 
if Theosophists ever did believe in miracles! This is a seri- 
ous charge against a school of thought which will not 
recognize anything supernatural in Nature. The profes- 
sion of belief in the miraculous, on the evidence offered, 
says Prof. Huxley, would be simply immoral. This will 
apply to a Theosophist as well as to the average Christian 

156 



who professes a belief in miracles on slender testimony. If 
sins are to be graded according to enormity, a rate well up 
in the scale has been assigned to that which is termed rash- 
ness of assent. Because an enthusiast in a certain camp 
in Theosophy declares that which is slightly supported by 
evidence it need not be accepted. It would, certainly, b2 
rash to assent to it; as rash as it is to assert it. 

Ingersoll did a great work for the Christian church in 
exposing that element in it which could be classified under 
no other term than that of the ridiculous. Many sensible 
preachers have thanked him for the good wrought and 
Theosophists who have the good of their cause at heart can 
thank Prof. Jastrow for all that he has done in exposing 
the irrational in certain camps. The Professor, if just, 
ought to thank the Theosophist for showing him wherein 
he is committing an ungracious error, in combating that 
which is imperishable in the world's thought. Occultism 
in its broadest apprehension embodies this undying, imper- 
ishable gift to the consciousness of man. What is charged 
by the Professor under the title of the "modern occult," is 
not, by any manner of means, that which is understood by 
the student as Occultism pure and simple. 

Differences of opinion may occur as to such distinc- 
tions; as to their proper definitions; as to the outcome of 
each. But it is useless to argue further with Professor 
Jastrow, when he appends in a note the following: 

"While I regard the acceptance of telepathy as an es- 
tablished phenomenon, as absolutely unwarranted and 
most unwarranted and while I feel a keen per- 
sonal regret that men whose ability and opin- 
ions I estimate highly have announced their be- 
lief in a spiritualistic explanation of their personal expe- 
riences with a particular medium, yet my personal regret 
and my logical disapproval of these conclusions have ob 
viously no bearing upon the general questions under discus - 

157 



sion. The scientific investigation of the same phenomena 
which have formed the subject-matter of occult beliefs, is 
radically different in motive, method and result from the 
truly occult. 

Is it so radically different in motive, method and re- 
sult? The scientific investigation of the same phenomena 
is exactly that which is engaging the best efforts of many 
Theosophists. They are using their reason in order to 
verify their intuitions. They have accomplished more 
on this line of procedure than can be credited to Chairs of 
Psychology, speaking generally, and it is found that in the 
domain of a pure Occultism, there have been substantiated 
facts, rather than assertions. The student of the Esoteric 
lore never forgets the rule of Faraday — accept a fact, but 
cross-examine every assertion. 

Psychology, according to the Theosophist, is exactly 
what the term indicates — Psycho-soul, and logos-discourse. 
It is more than a science of the mind; the mind is but a 
function of the soul force. The Eastern Psychologists thou- 
sands of years ago determined the status of the problem by 
noting this distinction. The soul force of a man is the 
whole of the "go" of a man, not a part of it. Occultism, 
when comprehended by a modern Psychology, will be com- 
pelled before it dives much deeper into the unplumbed 
abyss, to realize this fact and this distinction. It will no: 
settle problems on the "threshold" to use one of the tech- 
nical terms; nor will the grave questions obtain solution 
by postulating finalities in the subjective mind, or the sub- 
conscious mind, or the subliminal consciousness, or any 
other term adopted for teaching purposes and for classifica- 
tion. 

Much of the confusion in the public mind regarding 
Occultism has arisen because of the inordinate desire or 
certain so-called teachers to further their special methods 
of study. Theosophy suffers thereby. Here it is a native 

158 



Hindu, who announces that he is prepared to open a class, 
and the fees are named for so much a lesson, or a term. 
The moment this practice is observed, no matter by whom, 
it is un-Theosophical. It is the glory of Theosophy that 
fees are never to be asked for teachings which aid in the 
betterment of men's ways. Theosophical lecturers study their 
subjects deeper than do most preachers, yet their discov- 
eries are always freely given. It is a deep-seated principle 
in the culture that the best things in this world should be 
given away, and emphasis is placed on the esoteric saying, 
now paraphrased into English and used as a motto in other 
societies: "All that we can hold in our cold dead hand, 
is what we have given away." 

These teachers of classes in the different cities have 
obtained most of what they profess to know from esoteric 
studies introduced mainly by the Theosophists during the 
past twenty-five years. There is much good in many of 
them, but the Theosophist refuses to recognize them as 
valid, or even efficacious so long as the practice is con- 
tinued of selling such gifts at so much per head. It is any- 
thing but pure Occultism. 

An educated gentleman from India who has taught 
classes according to the methods which his sect (a small one 
at that) approves, was asked by an inquiring clergyman 
whether they knew anything of Theosophy in his native 
country. He answered that his sect knew nothing of it, 
and he had met but few people in the Orient who had. 
Suppose, now, the questioner had asked him if he knew 
aught of Atma Vidya? The Sanscrit words would have 
caught his ear in a moment. Atma means soul, and Vidya, 
knowledge. He would have answered readily: "That's 
just what I am endeavoring to teach in my classes in Oc- 
cultism. Yet Theosophy in the Greek thought is the same 
as Atma-Vidya in the Sanscrit. The basic principles are 
the same in the books of both. This oriental scholar was at 

159 



the Parliament of Religions and represented about six mil- 
lions of people out of nearly four hundred million who rest 
their belief on the essentials of the Vedas. He used the fol- 
lowing language: 

"If religion is not wholly that something which satis- 
fies the cravings of the emotional nature of man, but is 
that rational demonstration of the cosmos which shows at 
once the why and wherefore of existence, provides the ex- 
ternal and all-embracing foundation of natural ethics, and 
by showing to humanity the highest ideal of happiness re- 
alizable; in other words, religion, instead of being a mere 
matter of faith, might well become the solid province of 
reason, and a science of religion may not be so much a 
dream as is imagined by persons pledged to certain con- 
clusions." 

Whereupon, another educated Oriental, who also teach- 
es classes, and who claims to know all about Atma-Vidya 
in Sanscrit, but never heard of the Greek term Theosophy 
in his home, was introduced to the august presence of that 
memorable Parliament, and because he belonged to an older 
and more numerous sect, used the following language: 

"From the high spiritual flights of philosophy, of which 
the latest discoveries of science seem like echoes, from the 
Atheism of the Jains to the low ideals of idolatry and the 
multifarious mythologies, each and all have a place in the 
Hindu's religion. Where, then, the question arises, where 
then the common center to which all these widely-converg- 
ing radii converge? Where is the common basis upon 
which all these seemingly hopeless contradictions arise.?" 

And this same teacher, by his method of Occultism, 
after acknowledging his sectarian bias, and flinging a 
thrust at the other fellow who is atheistic, reminds the 
Theosophist that not only is human nature alike in the 
Occident and Orient, but that there is sufficient to do yet, 
in the line of investigation by the comparative method, so 
diligently pursued in Theosophical classes, and it is also 
found that these warring sects, as well as contending fac- 
tions in Christianity, have at the basis a common essential 



160 



foundation, which, from the author's point of view, is 
more clearly elucidated in the study of Occultism in Theo- 
sophical groups, than has been found thus far, judging from 
results, in the course of instruction in paid classes, no mat- 
ter how eminent the teacher may have been heralded to the 
world. 

But the Theosophist who proclaims to the world that 
all the truth is with him is committing a serious blunder. 
The tentacles of an aspiring ambition, if such a term is al- 
lowable, are reaching out with freedom but there is more 
to be learned by the individual in his utter freedom than 
can be imparted by any so-called "Outer-Head" of a school. 
It is well to note the following from Recejac: 

"We are not in possession scientifically of the laws of 
life, and still less so of the ultimate conditions of thought; 
and these 'psycho-mystic' facts, these appearances of spirit- 
■ ual autonomy, take place at boundary point between 
the Life which we know so imperfectly, and Freedom, 
which has nothing empirical about it. Should De- 
terminism succeed in course of time in bringing them 
within the tables of its prevision, it would assuredly be the 
supreme triumph of science and the end here below of all 
wonder." 

The above quotation is reverently submitted for the 
benefit of those who take without due allowance the pro- 
fessions of a certain class of Occultists who claim such an 
intimate, such a detailed knowledge of the Devechanic 
planes. 

The same author continues, while discussing the de- 
graded forms of mystic infatuation: 

"But the Mysticism which we have in view has nothing 
at all in common with mere wonder or curiosity; it has no 
impulse towards the Absolute to discover 'the new,' but its 
impulse is to discover the better. The true field of Mysti- 
cism is the Infinite of Reason and Freedom." Our minds 
carry in themselves the laws native to them of Duty and 
Perfection, not empirical laws; under the guarantee of abso- 
lute obedience to these laws, or rather by virtue of its own 

161 



moral autonomy, there is no novelty which can astonish 
Mysticism. It can no more be 'shocked scientifically' than 
it is susceptible of the vulgar forms of wonder; the sense 
of the 'Possible' which is the honor and life of Reason is 
really latent faith, an unavowed sense of the Infinite." 

And after all the abstruse and transcendental litera- 
ture upon this sublime study has been assimilated, there 
can be found no better summary than that given by Her- 
bert Spencer, and none would care to rate him with the 
''cranky Occultists." He says: 

"The final result of speculation is * * * * * 
that the power which manifests itself in the material uni- 
verse is the same power which in ourselves is manifested 
as consciousness." 

Then it is the divinity within, and Occultism has as- 
pired to nothing higher than a knowledge of this kingdom. 
If preachers could follow the trail in history and ascertain 
how many Masters had used the expression, "The Kingdom 
of God is within you," they would not wonder why the 
Theosophist insists that the world has never been left 
without the witness of such an indwelling kingdom. 

Balfour, in his "Foundations of Belief," corroborates 
this reasoning; exceedingly broad, but who can say it is not 
in accordance with the higher teaching of the greatest 
thinkers of all time: 

"I like to think of the human race, from whatever 
stock its members may have sprung, in whatever age they 
may be born, whatever creed they may profess together in 
the presence of the One Reality, engaged, not wholly in 
vain, in spelling out some fragments of its message. All 
share its being; to none are its oracles wholly dumb. But it 
is not, I think, inaccurate to say that every addition to 
knowledge, whether in the individual or the community, 
whether scientific, ethical, or theological, is due to a co- 
operation between the human soul which assimilates, and 
the Djvine Power which inspires. And whatever be the 
terms in which we choose to express our faith, let us not 
give color to the opinion that His assistance to mankind 
has been narrowed down to the sources, however unique, 



162 



from which we immediately and consciously draw our 
special nourishment." 

And this unique source from which most of us have 
drawn our special nourishment has been on Jewish lines. 
Greek philosophy, it is true, was superimposed in the 
palmy days of the Alexandrian University, but how few of 
our preachers have given serious attention to the Myste- 
ries, the Greater and the Lesser, of Greece? When allusion 
is made, it is usually with a sneer, yet for two thousand 
years these were the appointed means of higher culture 
and the channels through which the loftier aspirations 
found expression. Only the debased forms are quoted, but 
would any serious mind for a moment think that Cicero 
would ask to obtain initiation into these solemn Mysteries 
if they were so low as depicted? It was in these studies 
that he learned the deep truths which are at the basis of a 
true Occultism. There was a significant meaning in the 
phrases used by him: 

"Death is a law, not a penalty. 

"The wise man, ever serene and composed, is moved 

neither by pain nor sorrow, by fear nor desire. He is 
equally undisturbed by the malice of enemies, or the in- 
constancy of fortune." 

One can almost catch the echoes from the Bhagavad- 
Gita. Cicero was, however, but one of the long list of in- 
tellectual giants who chose initiation into these pro- 
found studies. The basic truths underlying all the cere- 
monies, all the symbolism, are recognized by the student of 
the esoteric philosophy, the same substantially in all the 
nations of the East, and becoming the same in the West 
by the interblending of thought. 

Another technical term found frequently in Theosophi- 
cal literature, but seemingly not so alarming to the Western 
thought, is Vibrations. Since the interesting disclosures 
of Science in the aspect of wave action in nature, and the 

163 



tabulated wave lengths in etheric vibration, the study has 
become intensely fascinating even from a materialistic 
point of view. But in the Sanscrit, studied as the Science 
of the Finer Forces, — "The Tattvas, — the investigation 
gains in enchantment. It includes all the scientific thought 
on Color, Form and Sound. These old evolutionists were 
no strangers to cosmic processes. 

Tattva is compounded of Tat, which means That; vah 
means, thou art. Thai thou art. The word That implies 
that which is ineffable; we can know but aspects of it, as 
manifested. One such aspect is the Great Breath, the 
breath which moved upon the face of the deep and caused 
manifestation. "With the Outgoing Breath, forms appear; 
with the Indrawing Breath forms disappear." Breath is 
synonymous with Spirit. 

Therefore Tattva, as a word used in its scientific sense 
in India, is a mode of action translated by Rama Prasad, 
M. A., who issued the first work on this line for the The- 
osophical Society, wherein he described the Tattva as "the 
central impulse which keeps matter in a certain vibratory 
state," and he adds, "every form and every motion is a 
manifestation of the Tattvas," in their differentiation, 
singly or in conjunction, as the case may be. 

States of consciousness come under this interesting- 
classification of Sanscrit science, hence its importance in 
a rational study of Occultism. It is a profoundly interesting 
psychological presentation of views which must be reckoned 
with by the modern Chairs of Psychology, whether they 
will or not. It is on such lines that the study of Occultism 
seeks guidance in deep and charming research. The The- 
osophists have from the moment of organization given ra- 
tional and reverent study to this comprehensive science. 

The conjunction of the positive and negative phases 
of any force as delineated in the Tattvas is but the same as 
the "pairs of opposites" so feebly understood and interpret- 

164 



ed in subsequent schools. George Hegel, who wrote fifty 
years ahead of his time, grasped the ancient thought, and 
did not Lord Kelvin but four years ago state that we must 
pay more attention to the "pairs of opposites?" Truth will 
reincarnate, when man has reached by evolutionary pro- 
cesses a stage fitted to assimilate it. The Svastica, the old- 
est symbol in the world, a universal sign for a general idea, 
by its very shape embodies this thought, and it is strange 
that the investigating archaeologist has not ere this detect- 
ed it. 

Devechan is another term which is considered techni- 
cal in the thought of the school. It is a Thibetan word, from 
Deva, gods, and chart t abode. It means in religious thought, 
the same as Svarga in the Hindu, or Nirvana in the Budd- 
histic, or Heaven in the Christian thought. It is not a 
place or site; it denotes a state of bliss which one enjoys 
after death, and in their true meaning, all are here, in this 
world. There is no other world except as planes of con- 
sciousness. When man has his highest desire he has reach- 
ed heaven, and he can reach it here when perfected as a man. 
The Eschatology of the Orientals is rich in imagery, and 
their language allows latitude in expression, but these ques- 
tions to the investigating Theosophist are valuable, mainly, 
when pursuing the comparative method of study. 

These, with many other terms which have crept into 
the Western thought, are all comprehended under the gen- 
eral classification of Esotericism. The scientist boasts that 
"science has no secrets." Yet, peradventure, the same 
boaster may be a Mason of a higher or less degree. Ask 
him if he will divulge the secrets thus learned. As an ethi- 
cal point, it may not be wise to withhold teachings from any 
inquiring mind, but it has always been held that it is not 
profitable to cast pearls before swine. 

From the foundations of learning there have been eso- 
teric teachings, taught to and known by only an inner cir- 

166 



cle of disciples; belonging only to the initiated. The term 
in literature is applied to the mysterious doctrines of the 
Pythagorean school; but there were esoteric schools earli- 
er in Egypt winch the new science of Epigraphy (Symbo- 
lism) is now trying to decipher. 

India for thousands of years held secret certain teach- 
ings and initiations were allowed only to particular castes. 
Religious teachers of all ages are recorded as having taken 
their disciples apart for private instruction. 

But it is not correct to state, as does the Standard Dic- 
tionary, that Esoteric Buddhism is Theosophy in its latest 
development. It has been studied in Theosophical classes, 
it is true, but by the comparative method. Much of it is 
utterly rejected by the studious Theosophist. So with the 
Alexandrian Judaism, much is discarded as peculiar to that 
environment, but it is necessary to study it in order to 
reach the state of consciousness which could evolve such 
conclusions. And when all is studied all can be summarized 
into the three essentials of Theosophy — The Perfectibility 
of Man, brought about by Reincarnation (for one life is 
not sufficient to perfect anything), and this by the law of 
Karma, cause and effect. "Whatever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap." 

166 



CHAPTER X. 



A THEOSOPHIST'S ATTITUDE TO CHRISTIANITY. 

The bitter attacks from pulpits on the teachings dis- 
seminated by Theosophical Societies are clearly traced to 
preachers of a less degree of culture. Men of light and 
leading in Liberal Christianity are too broad to descend to 
such fanatical zeal; their points of view are from pinna- 
cles; they represent Christianity rather than Christendom. 
To their comprehensive sweep of gaze Christianity is a 
point of view; to the Theosophist, his system of thought 
is a point of view. Even heresy is but the looking at truth 
from another point of view. 

It need not astonish the reader to learn that the The- 
osophist in our civilization is an ardent upholder of a true 
Christianity; nevertheless, he is proclaimed as an icono- 
clast. This hue and cry has been non-suited before the 
open court of public opinion. It is generally found as a 
specified item in sacerdotal pleadings, wherein it is also 
averred that if one brick from the cunningly adjusted fab- 
ric of orthodoxy is removed, or one line of the Hebrew 
Scriptures proved erroneous, God would vanish from the 
world, heaven and hell become empty names, all motives 
for doing good be annulled and the earth become a blank 
and dreary wilderness. 

But here comes one who is both preacher and teacher, 
Rev. Dr. Momerie, who figured conspicuously at the Par- 
liament of Religions in Chicago, and who was expelled from 
his professorship of Logic and Metaphysics at King's Col- 

167 



lege, England., by the Episcopal Church for his advanced, 
though thoroughly Christian views. In his able work, "The 
Future Religion," chap. VI, "Clerical Untruthfulness," he 
states: 

"When ecclesiastics speak of truth — or. as they gener- 
ally call it, the truth — they are thinking only of orthodoxy; 
they mean not verified facts, but unverified opinion. And 
in defense of unverified opinion they have rarely hesitated 
to lie." 

Rather severe language for an eminent clergyman, but 
impressive when the sublime character of the author is 
taken into account. He quotes from an early church au- 
thority: "It is our bounden duty to lie and deceive, if 
thereby we can catch souls,"'' and in ending the chapter uses 
these appalling words: 

"The majority of ecclesiastics are indifferent, if not 
opposed, to truth. And when I think of their modern de- 
vices — such as willful prevarication, deliberate ambiguity, 
and, worst of all, the conspiracy of silence — I confess I al- 
most wish we were back to the plain, straightforward lying 
of the early Fathers. It was so much easier to deal with, 
so much less damaging to truth.''' 

Rev. Heber Newton. Episcopalian, New York, is an- 
other instance. Whole pages of his writings can be placed 
in a Theosophical periodical, and if the source is concealed 
the context will be accepted as Theosophical Christianity. 
But what of a certain Episcopalian clergyman of Washing- 
ton to whom an inquiring lady of his parish went for an ex- 
planation of certain tenets of Theosophy? "0, that was 
exploded a thousand years ago." If so, the investigator, 
whether the lady in question or a student of the esoteric 
lore will further ask: "How do you account for the fact 
that Prof. Max Muller and many others eminent in archaeo- 
logical and philological research admit that Theosophy was 
a "venerable name well known to the early Christian Fa- 
thers?" Where did they get this knowledge which is defined 

168 



by the same eminent authorities as "the highest to which 
the human mind can reach?" Must we much longer in this 
progressive age, remind the bigoted oracles that the think- 
ing world accepts as true, the fling of the students of the 
German universities — "The preachers have been kicked 
into every reform." 

The Theosophist, in his comparative study, is glad to 
give shelf room to books from such students of Christianity 
as Charles Kingsley, Lyman Abbott, N. D. Hillis, Phillips 
Brooks, J. Minot Savage, Heber Newton, Robert Collyer, 
William Ellery Channing, James Martineau, and a host of 
other pioneers eminent in Christian thought. Yet not one 
of these is rated as "straight evangelical," by the majority 
of those who profess to believe that they were called spec- 
ially to save the world. Nor does the Theosophist accept 
the conclusions from even these great lights as an entirety, 
for they, too, differ, according to their points of view. 

Cardinal Gibbons, a few years ago, delivered Christian 
teaching in a rural Maryland church. His theme was the 
story of the Good Samaritan. His exemplification of the 
details sounded like an echo from the Masters of Compas- 
sion of the ages. What marked the occasion was the em- 
phasis given to the reminder: "A heretic did this good 
work." 

Any Theosophical magazine in the world would cheer 
fully insert that Christian sermon and assert with ail the 
vigor of the culture: "This is pure Theosophy in its ethical 
aspect." Yet, any one of these publications would refuse 
to accept dogmatic teaching from even so pure an exponent 
as Cardinal Gibbons. 

From the day of his inception into a student class the 
Theosophist has been taught and it has been constantly im- 
pressed upon him, to look for similarities — not differences. 
Herein is the secret of the research which characterizes 

169 



the school. Along this line, the Theosophist can shed more 
light on Theology than can Theology on Theosophy. 

Tradition gives way at every step of such critical inves- 
tigation. The Bible curtains truth, all admit; nevertheless, 
it is found that all Bibles contain truth, differing in degree 
rather than in kind. 

There is nothing new in the Christian Scriptures, ac- 
cording to the ablest archaeologists and philologists; but 
this ought to strengthen Christianity rather than weaken 
it, in that it shows the wonderful assimilative power of the 
system of thought. To a philosophical and scientific cast of 
mind it evolves into a consolation to know that many pre- 
vious Scriptures have been distilled, until the very quint- 
essence has been saved for the instruction of mankind; but 
controversial theologians who split hairs on "proof-texts" 
will have none of this; they insist that a new revelation 
was given for the elect alone. 

The central figure of Christianity excels in what he did, 
not, in what he said. He said nothing new; he brought no 
new truth. Truth is older than Christianity in its present 
aspect; Truth always was true, or it could not be truth. No 
great teacher, whether Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster or Rama 
brought new Truth; they brought teaching calling men 
back to Truth. The Truth was always steadfast; it was 
man that had wandered astray. Their mission, according 
to Theosophical teaching was to call man back to the real- 
ity. The Real always was Real. 

The Sermon on the Mount and the Golden Rule were 
taught by all the Masters thousands of years before our era. 
It is a waste of ink to attempt at this developed stage of re- 
search to deny, or attempt to refute, this statement. The 
Sacred Books of the East have been translated and are ac- 
cessible. The myths and legends of the nations have been 
critically analyzed by a ripe scholarship, until our former 
method of surveying such fields has been exactly reversed. 

170 



As stated by Prof. Brinton, we are no longer to believe tbat 
religions developed from mythologies; the reverse is true 
— mythologies were derived from religions. Thus, Archae- 
ology in its severe exactness confirms Theosophy. 

Even Bunsen, a Christian in thought, was compelled 
after years of exploration and diligent study to write to 
his friend, Prof. Max Muller: "Christianity is nothing to 
me but a restoration of the ideals of humanity." Clement 
of Alexandria, in the second century, as an apologist for the 
early church, declared the same important truth. St. 
Augustine is on record to the same effect, and the most ad- 
vanced of the modern archaeologists do not hesitate to 
announce that deeply cut into the granite of Ancient 
Egypt's monuments are the three significant words, Uae — 
Maat — Ankh; the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No won- 
der Taylor, an early explorer, wrote: "Bind it about thy 
neck, write it upon the tablets of thy heart — everything in 
Christianity is of Egyptian origin." Why have these three 
significant words been so long concealed? Simply because 
partisan writers could not see them, or did not choose to see 
them. 

The Theosophist objects, at once, to the word — "every- 
thing," in Taylor's expression. The translations from the 
old Sanscrit were not available when he wrote, nor did we 
have the wealth of the old Zoroastrian lore, the religion 
founded on "Pure Thoughts, Pure words, Pure deeds." Nor 
had we gained the incalculable richness of the Esoteric 
Teachings, which yield the key to many hitherto perplex- 
ing problems. Nor had the Upanishads received that crit- 
ical analysis now available; nor had the Vedas been stud- 
ied with discrimination. 

Entombed with the mummified remains of the well-to- 
do classes of ancient Egypt were quotations from their 
scripture, now erroneously called the "Book of the Dead/' 
Ask the archaeologist how many times during the past 

171 



quarter of a century the following has been found with the 
bodies, placed there to testify as to religious life of the de 
ceased: 

"He hath given bread to the hungry, water to the thirs- 
ty, clothing to the naked. There is no accusation against 
him. Let him be favored amongst those who are favored." 

And if the over-zealous dogmatic preacher thinks all 
the Egyptians were damned, because pagans, let him read 
the 125th chapter of the Book of the Dead. If they insist 
further, that the true Christianity of ancient Egypt 3000 
B. C. was lacking in the highest thought, let them read the 
following extract which ought to convince a reasonable 
mind that their spiritual worship and moral code when 
correctly interpreted are as positively and distinctively 
monotheistic as the Jewish and Christian religions, and as 
an archaeologist recently wrote, "aye, more so": 

"God is one and alone, no other with him, God is the 
Infinite One, the one who has made all things. God is from 
the beginning, and has existed from the beginning. He 
made all things after his way. He has endured for endless 
time and will exist hereafter forever." 

Similar confession is found again and again in the 
ancient Sanscrit Vedas, in the Zend Avesta, in the Buddhis- 
tic books, in the Chinese sacred literature, in the Thibetan 
manuscripts — in the scriptures of all peoples. The accre- 
tions of priestcraft have disfigured the originals. The ar- 
chaeologists and philologists can easily mark the line of 
retrogression in each. Christianity has shared the same 
fate. Plain language is in order. Priests and preachers 
have spoiled the character of the gentle Nazarene, as priest- 
craft in every other faith has spoiled the true character of 
the Founders. 

Take the following instance as a piece of the current 
Sunday school teaching. This extract was clipped from the 
regular series, as published by the press under the head of 

172 



"Lessons," and these lessons are prepared by a "divine" 
who is accredited with great theological acumen: 

"During our Lord's ministry demons took possession 
of the people and controlled their actions in a distressing 
way, as if to dispute His authority and test His power, pre- 
senting phenomena never witnessed before or since." 

And this at the close of a remarkable century when it 
would seem as if the rational order of the Cosmos could be 
accepted as a fact even by the illiterate who somehow are 
aided in their "horse sense" to assimilate truth from the 
very air of their welkin. Is it any wonder that the great 
scientist Huxley raised a protest against the "dazing of the 
minds of children" in the Sunday schools? 

Theosophists have passed through this painful experi- 
ence of unlearning what was thrust upon the plastic con- 
sciousness, under the plea of the average preacher that, 
if the child can be left to their tutelage for the first seven 
years, the arch-enemy (whoever that may be) can have the 
remainder in term of life. If such teaching as the above 
quotation exhibits, is Christianity, then the Theosophist 
is done with Christianity as an effete piece of degenerated 
Shamanism, the voicing of the sacred Medicine Man. 
Professor Huxley gave the following as an answer to the 
"Three Bishops," and many good Christian people assent to 
it: 

"The so-called religious world is given to a strange de- 
lusion. It fondly imagines that it possesses the monopoly of 
serious and constant reflection upon the terrible problems 
of existence; and that those who cannot accept its shibbo- 
leths are either mere Gallios, caring for none of these 
things, or libertines desiring to escape from the restraints 
of morality. It does not appear to have entered the imagi- 
nations of these people that outside their pale, and firmly 
resolved never to enter it, there are thousands of men. cer- 
tainly not tneir inferiors in character, capacity, or knowledge 
of the questions at issue, who estimate those purely spirit- 
ual elements of the Christian faith of which the Bishop of 
Manchester speaks as highly as this Bishop does, but who 



173 



will have nothing to do with the Christian Churches, be- 
cause in their apprehension, and for them, the profession 
of belief in the miraculous, on the evidence offered, would 
be simply immoral." 

The culture of our advanced civilization is taking away 
the practice of appeal to the ecclesiastical tribunal which 
prompts such Sunday school lessons. Under the New Psy- 
chology, the younger the child, the more imperative the 
need of an advanced teacher. Thinking people who live 
for their children are calling a halt. If Jehovah, or the 
devil, sent demons two thousand years ago to take posses 
sion of people as if to dispute the authority of a beneficent 
teacher and test his power, they are sent now. If not now, 
not then. A true light for such darkened counsel would be 
a careful perusal of "The Warfare of Science," accessible in 
any library, written by Andrew D. White, now Minister to 
Germany, formerly President of Cornell University. 

Take another instance. A young preacher (Presbyte- 
rian South) fresh from his theological studies, assumed 
charge of his flock in the last year of the century just 
passed. His deportment as a pulpit orator was all that 
could be expected even in this fastidious period. His elocu- 
tion bore witness to careful training, and altogether as a 
professional he was a pleasing study as a late product of 
our boasted schools. But he did no credit to the great sect 
which boasts of its learning when he delivered his sermon 
from the text in the first chapter according to St. John: 
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and 
we beheld his glory." This is the substance of his preach- 
ing: 

"No divine manifestation had ever before appeared in 
fleshly form. The nearest that human eyes had ever beheld 
anything that even indicated a divine appearance on earth, 
was the small light seen in the ark of the covenant; but 
this tiny glimmer was merely given as a reminder that a 

174 



greater light was to come, and even this dim flame was al- 
lowed to out a small portion of the world's population, and 
they the chosen people." 

This synopsis is not exaggerated. It even lacks the 
vigor with which the young theological athlete emphasized 
it. Can any one wonder that Theosophy is spreading over 
the face of the earth with no paid propaganda back of it? 
The Theosophist is not long in the study-class before he 
learns something about that thaumaturgical process which 
produced the light in the sacred box, and how it was bor- 
rowed, as nearly all such contrivances were, from the an- 
cient temple service of so-called pagans. If Christianity is 
to be defended by such trained preachers, the attitude of 
the Theosophist will not be warmly sympathetic. But hap- 
pily, greater men are in the pulpits of Liberal thought, and 
the essentials of the teachings will be saved, and always 
with the aid of the Theosophist. 

And now comes another, again a preacher rather than 
teacher. He, too, selects a text from the Gospel according 
to St. John; "He that cometh from above is above all," and 
this is how he proceeds to preach, for it certainly cannot be 
classed as teaching. Such parts of it as have an aspect of 
truth are misleading and untruth can as easily be spread 
by concealing part of the truth. It was John Stuart Mill 
who said: 

"The besetting danger is not so much of embracing 
falsehood for truth as of mistaking part of the truth for the 
whole." 

"Endeavors have been made to put Buddha, Socrates 
and others in the place of Jesus. Attempts in our own coun- 
v try and in Europe to introduce Buddhism under the title of 
Theosophy, and their wretched failure are familiar to every 
one. Enemies of Christianity will readily embrace any 
false system, however absurd, in place of a religion which 
condemns their sins and cranks and irresponsible people 
will run after every new thing that promises notoriety and 
the distinction of eccentricity. ********* 



175 



Who was Buddha? He was born, nobody knows when and 
nobody knows where. His birth and death range from 2000 
B. C. to 543 B. C. Because of this uncertainty he has been 
declared by some eminent authorities to be a myth. Under 
a mass of miraculous tales Siddartha Gotama comes to us. 
Buddhist legends teem with miserable miracles attributed 
to him. It was only after he left the world that his dis- 
ciples attempted to recall his sayings and doings, and every- 
thing pertaining to him, however extraordinary and incred- 
ible, was eagerly welcomed. Earliest compilations of Bud- 
dhists were A. D. 412, or 1000 or 2000 years after Buddha is 
claimed to have lived. From all the scholars who have 
written on the subject we do not know that Buddha ever 
lived; or if he lived, what he said or did." 

Some of that congregation, as well as the readers of 
the paper which published the sermon, will ask sooner or 
later, as did Sir Edwin Arnold when he began the study of 
Buddhism, — "how is it that a third of mankind could have 
been brought to believe in blank abstractions, or in Nothing- 
ness as the issue and aim of Being?" if they are studious, 
and persevering, they will naturally consult the works of 
Prof. Max Muller, Spence Hardy, Rhys Davids, and a score 
or more of others more eminent in the world's scolarship 
than the authorities hinted at in the above quotation, which 
must have been extremely partisan and superficial, to say 
the least. 

As a further fruit of study, they will soon learn that no 
religious teacher in the Buddhistic faith would speak of 
the gentle and lowly Nazarene in such a manner. The in- 
fluence which made all Asia mild still persists. Buddhistic 
priests are courteous. 

As to the festering sores which inflict such a widely 
spread faith, which the Theosophist admits, they can be 
accounted for by the candid historian. Sir Edwin Arnold 
states them succinctly: 

"The extravagances which disfigure the record and 
practice of Buddhism are to be referred to that inevitable 
degradation which priesthoods always inflict upon great 



176 



ideas committed to their charge. The power and sublimity 
of Gautama's original doctrines should be estimated by 
their influence, not by their interpreters; nor by that inno- 
cent but lazy and ceremonious church which has arisen on 
the Buddhistic Brotherhood or 'Sangha.' " 

Dr. Paul Carus, who is not a Theosophist, is issuing the 
"Gospel of Buddha" in paper covers at the low rate of 35 
cents per copy. He is doing this in the interest of the "Ex- 
tension of the Religious Parliament Idea." Many of the 
parables which Christianity borrowed can be found in that 
edition. Harvard University is surely not a Theosophical 
institution, yet it has been issuing cheap bound editions of 
Sanscrit literature for years, and the inquiring minds of 
our people are eagerly absorbing it. Other universities are 
engaged on the same line. 

It seems, then, that it cannot be true as stated, that it 
is the attempt of Theosophy to introduce Buddhism in the 
sense as declared, to take the "place of Jesus." It is true, 
that Theosophists are aiding others to introduce Buddha's 
teachings to a place alongside those of Jesus, to convince 
people in the interest of an Universal Brotherhood and a 
true Christianity that their teachings were remarkably sim- 
ilar; but that they have been degraded, those of Buddha by 
priests who profess to be his followers, and those of Jesus, 
by preachers who shriek loudly for Churchianity and 
Christendom rather than for pure Christianity. 

Change the name of the individuality — Buddha, to 
Jesus, along with the dates, and the very argument is pre- 
sented which the preachers themselves have difficulty in 
answering. If there is no historical evidence for Prince 
Gautama, there is none for Jesus of Nazareth. If some 
eminent authorities declare the former to be a myth, there 
are also authorities eminent who declare the same of the 
latter. What manner of argument is this for a religious 
teacher to use against another faith? Is it necessary to 
pull down a devout neighbor to build up one's own dogma? 

13 177 



The law of Karma in its psychological aspect, which is un- 
erring in its certainty, will surely overtake such partisan 
zeal. Must it be in order to ask that Rev. Dr. Momerie's 
chapter on "Clerical Untruthfulness" he read once more? 

The Theosophist has consulted the authorities which 
are verily eminent, and has found that the Buddha born 
2000 B. C. was but one of a line, the later and last in that 
faith being the one referred to as of 543 B. C. Intermediate 
Buddhas appear in the Pali books; the title means the En- 
lightened, from the verb Buddh, to know. These knowing 
ones of the Orient, were great Teachers, hence revered. 
Gautama won his enlightenment by arduous effort. Jesus 
of Nazareth, according to the Theosophist's reasoning came 
to be the Christ by effort. The student is not called upon to 
stone the one to exalt the other. Both were great ideals; 
both had a mission; both were Masters of Compassion; both 
appeared in the fulness of time for a great work, for the 
good of humanity. 

If the Theosophist uses the terminology of his school 
and states that they came as Avatars, or teachers, or Divine 
Examples, or Mahatmas the partisan zealot affects a shock 
at such "dangerous doctrine"; but is it essentially any dif- 
ferent from the beautiful expression of Lowell? 

"God sends his teachers into every age, 

To every clime, and every race of men, 

With revelations fitted to their growth 

And shape of mind ; nor gives the realm of truth 

Unto the selfish rule of one sole race." 

Thus, the Buddha, and prior Buddhas, came, and will 
come again, as the Theosophist believes, as Teachers of the 
Ways of Peace. The Books tell 

"Where he passed and what proud Emperors carved his 
sweet words upon the rocks and caves." 

And later books tell how these rock-cut edicts were 
effaced by an intolerant, bigoted and institutional churchi- 
anity, that posed as Christianity, for fear that an ignorant 

178 



following might possibly learn that the parallel between 
the birth of the Nazarene, and the birth of Buddha, could 
not be accounted for on the ground of coincidence. And 
even in late years, Christian apologists have attempted to 
make the Buddhistic account of later date than the Chris- 
tian narration and have insisted that the Buddhist must 
have copied from the Christian. It is now well settled that 
the reverse is true; the account of Buddha's birth existed 
centuries before the Nazarene was born. The marks which 
attest the borrowing are but too apparent. 

As to the item in this preacher's tirade against another 
faith: 

"Under a mass of miraculous tales Siddartha Gotama 
comes to us. Buddhist legends teem with miserable mir- 
acles attributed to him." 

The mass of miraculous tales is the work of a fanatical 
priesthood; but Christianity has been afflicted for centuries 
in the same manner by the same methods. Only since Sci- 
ence has begun its purification of religion have priests and 
preachers desisted from rehearsing the long list of mirac- 
ulous stories that were once accepted. And true Chris- 
tianity is suffering even now as is pure Buddhism from a 
tenacious adherence to some miracles which are supposed 
to be divine interventions or interferences in the rational 
order of things. 

Buddha, as he is recognized by the ripest scholarship 
did not go about performing sacred tricks; in fact, it is 
found, by research, that he opposed such appeals to the 
consciousness of man. Jesus of Nazareth was not the sanc- 
tified juggler which dogmatic priests and preachers picture 
if the reverent scholarship of the day can be relied upon. 
Nevertheless, one phase of the controverted problem should 
not be overlooked. If the miracles attributed to Buddha are 
not to be credited, neither should those of Christianity, for 
it is found that the gospel writers, whoever they may have 

179 



been, copied with strict fidelity. Long before the advent of 
the Nazarene the accounts of these miracles were recorded, 
and can be found by the plodding student. Even before 
Buddha's time, the same miracles, speaking generally, are 
found in Brahmanical lore, and in the Magian (Persian) 
with the "Wise Men of the East as the "star performers." 
The Theosophist discredits them all as miracles in the the- 
ological sense, i. e., supernatural. 

The Theosophist of a scientific habit of thought stands 
with Huxley in his answer to the dogmatic preacher, who 
declared, addressing the investigators of the age: 

"And I would warn you very distinctly against this 
new contrivance. Christianity is essentially miraculous 
and falls to the ground if miracles be impossible." 

The great scientist answered: 

"Well, warning for warning, I venture to warn this 
preacher and those who, with him, persist in identifying 
Christianity with the miraculous, that such forms of Chris- 
tianity are not only doomed to fall to the ground, but that 
within the last half century they have been driven that 
way with continually accelerated velocity." 

Lyman Abbott in his "Theology of an Evolutionist" ex- 
plains much of the illogical mass which has piled high upon 
Christian teachings, and a Theosophist can have no serious 
objection to the views he puts forth. This discrediting of 
the miraculous will in nowise impair the exalted ideal who 
suffered for the good of others as has many another great 
soul in the world's history. The essence and value of an 
ethical principle do not need the re-enforcement of a mira- 
cle to make them more valuable or more essential. Deity 
never condescended to the wiles of a showman, personated 
as either a Buddha or a Christ, to make truth more valu- 
able or more essential; nor is a miracle needed to convince 
an enlightened conscience that truth stands on its own 
merit. 

180 



Prof. William Kingdon Clifford, of England, did much 
to enlighten the minds of investigators in the strictly scien- 
tific realm; but he used the same clear, critical and analyt- 
ical methods in other departments of thought, Here is one 
touching the "Ethics of Belief 

"The followers of the Buddha have at least as much 
right to appeal to individual and social experience in sup- 
port of the Eastern Savior. The special mark of his relig- 
ion, it is said, that in which he has never been surpassed, 
is the comfort and consolation which it gives to the sick 
and sorrowful, the tender sympathy with which it soothes 
and assuages all the natural griefs of man. And surely no 
triumph of social morality can be greater or nobler than 
that which has kept nearly half the human race from perse- 
cuting in the name of religion. If we are to believe his 
followers, he came on earth with a cosmic mission to set 
rolling the wheel of the law." 

There may be an excuse for many preachers in subur- 
ban stations who have not the means to purchase books, 
nor access to libraries; but even without books, the press 
has freely given liberal accounts of the doings of the Parlia- 
ment of Religions at Chicago, where many educated Budd- 
hists were gladly heard. One of these learned men of the 
Orient quoted from the ancient history which is now ac- 
cessible in our own libraries, to prove that the Emperor 
Asoka, 250-223 B. C, convened the first parliament of re- 
ligions, and it is beginning to be realized that it was the 
greatest known in history. For seven months sessions were 
held and there were present over 1,000 scholars of India 
in that great city of Backnow; all creeds known were dis- 
cussed. Every saying of Buddha was weighed; entries were 
made in their books which are now coming to light. As a 
result of that Congress, Asoka caused stones to be set up 
in all the provinces of his extensive jurisdiction, whereon 
he caused to be written: 

"He who reviles the religion of others throws diffi- 
culties in the way of his own, for his conduct can not be 
right." 

181 



If it is true that only after Buddha left this world did 
his disciples seek to recall his sayings and doings, is it not 
equally true that the same may be said of the followers of 
the Nazarene? Where in the world is a single written word 
by the latter? And of what others have compiled, here is 
the summary: Jesus did 33 things; told 30 stories; all the 
words he uttered, as reported, can be spoken in less than 
5 hours. It is not even settled which language he spoke. 

The Parliament of Religions under the Emperor Asoka 
had an advantage; they were using the very language of 
the Great Teacher. While it may be true that no life of 
Buddha is contemporary, scholarship has settled it beyond 
dispute that at the beginning of the Christian era all the 
most important Buddhistic scriptures existed in the form 
or nearly in the form that we possess them now. And this 
is a most important fact to keep in mind, for it is the key 
to the copying and borrowing which is clearly well proven. 

And again, it may be noted that the advanced scholar- 
ship of our day has decided that Jesus was but one year 
in active ministry as against the three years formerly held. 
The same scholarship has lengthened the years of Buddha's 
ministry; research confirms it. 

Prof. Max Muller in his Science of Religion, p. 253, 
says: 

"Between the language of Buddha and his disciples, 
and the language of Christ and his disciples, there are 
strange coincidences. Even some of the Buddhist legends 
and parables sound as if taken from the New Testament, 
though we know that many of them existed before the be- 
ginning of the Christian era." 

The Christian writer, Bunsen, refers to these "strange 
coincidences" in his "Angel Messiah," p. 50, and declares 
that they could not possibly have occurred by mere chance. 
He endeavors to account for it as an orthodox writer natur- 
ally would by the assumption of a common source of in- 

182 



spiration and revelation, but is finally constrained to 
acknowledge that this explanation is not very satisfying. 

The long list of scholars in the East who have investi- 
gated, and who have arrived at the same conclusion, is too 
formidable for space in these pages. It is simply sufficient 
to cover the ground by giving what is a summary of a The- 
osophist's point of view and this Theosophist, the author 
of "Mystic Masonry," Dr. J. D. Buck, of Cincinnati, Presi- 
dent of the Theosophical Society in America: 

"Tear every shred of history from the life of Christ, 
to-day, and prove beyond all controversy that he never ex- 
isted, and Humanity, from its heart of hearts would create 
him again to-morrow and justify the creation by every in- 
tuition of the human soul and by every need of the daily 
life of man. The historical contention might be given up, 
ignored, and the whole character, genius, and mission of 
Jesus the Christ, be none the less real, beneficent and etern- 
al with all its human and dramatic episodes. Explain it 
as you will, it can never be explained away; the character 
remains; and whether Historical or Ideal, it is real and 
eternal. The laying down of one's life for another has in- 
spired the hope and brightened the lives of the down-trod- 
den and despairing for ages. Is it a mere fancy or a de- 
signing lie? It will be urged by modern theologians thai 
this view dethrones Christ. To this objection the answer 
is, that any other view orphans Humanity. It is far more 
important that men should strive to become Christs than 
that they should believe that Jesus was Christ. If the 
Christ-state can be attained by but one human being during 
the whole evolution of the race, then the evolution of man 
is a farce and human perfection an impossibility. Jesus 
is no less Divine because all may reach the same Divine 
perfection. It has also been shown that every act in the 
drama of the life of Jesus, and every quality assigned to 
Christ is to be found in the life of Krishna and in the leg- 
ends of all the Sun-Gods from the remotest antiquity." 

The legends associated with the birth and life of 
Buddha are copied from older sacred births, as were those 



183 



of the infant Jesus copied from Buddhistic records. The 
parallel is striking all along the line of research. 

Krishna was God incarnate long before Buddha, by a 
miraculous conception termed immaculate; he was born in 
a dungeon, the walls of which were miraculously illuminat- 
ed at the time of his birth; a chorus of angels sang at his 
birth; he was of royal descent and a long genealogy like 
that of St. Matthew is given to prove it; he was cradled 
among shepherds; was carried away by night, and conceal- 
ed to escape the ruler of the country, who in order to in- 
sure the death of the infant deity, had decreed a general 
slaughter of babes throughout the land; he performed 
miracles in boyhood, including healing a leper, raising from 
the dead, and striking dead the persons who offended him; 
he learned all the sciences in one day and night, and so on. 

Much of similar tenor is found in the Persian scrip- 
tures of the life of Zoroaster who was also born of a mirac- 
ulous conception. The Mexican savior Quexalcoti; the Chi 
nese savior Xaca, the first Chinese monarch Ya, and other 
so-called divine personages were all miraculously con- 
ceived; as were also, according to legends and traditions, 
Plato, Appolonius of Tyana, and numerous other mortals. 

They were all called Sons of God. The appellation was 
common both before and at the time of Jesus. St. Basil 
who wrote nearly four centuries after the beginning of our 
era says: "Every uncommonly good man was called the 
Son of God." The Theosophist of to-day says, as did the 
Theosophist of the days of the Alexandrian University, be- 
fore the gospels were written, that all men are the sons of 
God in the making if they choose to make themselves so; all 
men are essentially divine and can manifest this divinity if 
they so will; all men can become Christs if they choose to 
obey the Christos within (the Kingdom of God within you) 
to regulate their conduct in life. It is a question of doing, 
not believing. 

184 



The dogmatic theologian who affects some imputed 
power which warrants him to speak as an oracle for the 
Most High insists, that all the virtues, which the Theoso- 
phist cherishes as essential to the making of the Perfect 
Man, will not avail; even morality will not save him — he 
must believe, must have faith which will allow him to be- 
lieve just what is laid down by authority and that the 
greatest sin is unbelief. If this is the test — this the cri- 
terion, then the Theosophist and the dogmatic Christian are 
again as on former points, at opposite poles. It will be im- 
possible for the two to function on the same mental plane. 

The Theosophist instead of believing off-hand, does ex- 
actly the opposite — he doubts, and justifies the action on the 
ground that honest doubt is the beginning of true piety. 
Man is a rational being; and as such, even admitting that 
all our knowledge is but qualified ignorance, it still remains 
true that he must doubt to investigate, he must investigate 
to believe. This may call forth the usual supply of theologi- 
cal thunder, but the answer of the Theosophist will be 
equally as loud, that free thinking is a badge of manliness, 
a divine right and privilege. And when mankind exer- 
cise more abundantly the prerogative of free thought in the 
interest of honest investigation, Christian ethics can still 
retain their hold; the Church as a social center and a re- 
puted safeguard of social order will remain for the further 
betterment of men's ways; but the dogmas and creeds born 
in the centuries of darkness and superstition will go. 
Christianity will then be understood according to its ear- 
lier interpretations. Where is the theological chair in any 
of our sectarian institutions which will declare of Tertu- 
lian's statement in defense of Christianity, that anything 
can be found propping such doctrines as Original Sin, To- 
tal Depravity, Predestination, Grace and Atonement? And 
what of the Christianity of such Fathers as Origen, and 
Justin Martyr, and Clement oj. Alexandria, and many other 

185 



names familiar to the student of the earlier Greek inter- 
pretations? 

But the Theosophist by quoting these early authorities 
does not wish the reader to assume that his type of Christi- 
anity is to he found in its patristic form; neither is it in 
the medieval cast nor is it in the puritanical. The point of 
view has changed with the changes changing everything in 
our modern and liberal thought. It was the doubter who 
brought all this about. 

"I am the doubter and the doubt, 
And I the hymn the Brahman sings." 

Uncultured faith and dogmatic agnosticism are both 
unphilosophical to the Theosophic cast of mind. The doubt 
brings about equilibrium. Had it not been for the astro- 
nomical doubter in the seventeenth century, the sun would 
be yet going around the earth in the theologies; the suc- 
cess of the doubt did not impair the essential faith in man. 
Had it not been for the doubter in the eighteenth century, 
the pulpits would be clinging to the literal six days' manu- 
facture out of nothing of all the Universe visible to us; 
theology and geology seem to be getting on very well be- 
cause of the doubt. It did not disturb the faith of those 
who gained broader and more comprehensive views by al- 
lowing hundreds of thousands of years to accomplish the 
ends sought by a Unity in variety. The struggle of the 
nineteenth century was mainly on biological questions, and 
they have won, though faith is not disturbed. Indeed, 
preachers are assuring us that Christianity never was in 
better shape. The opening of the twentieth century is on 
lines of the Higher Criticism which has not by any means 
reached high-water mark, and still the pulpits assert that 
Christianity is more firmly rooted than ever, and most of 
the educated clergy are accepting even the deductions of 
science, and Science by involuntary aid continues to purify 
Christianity. 

186 



But, unfortunately, the Liberal Christians are yet in a 
minority. The tyrannical hold of many of the christened 
clubs of Christendom yet suffocates by dogmatic teaching 
and fanatical zealotry. The spirit of true Christianity is 
fought as if it were really the "dangerous doctrine" it is 
dubbed. An instance: about ten years ago there appeared 
in a New York daily newspaper an editorial, in Christmas 
week, with the heading — "Christ the First True Gentle- 
man." Sectarian journals shivered with the shock. To 
call such a sublime character a gentleman! The man on 
the street was not slow to answer, "Well, you would not 
care to say he was not a gentleman." 

This incident carried deep meaning to many inquiring 
minds. The Theosophist was not slow in perceiving that 
the age was beginning to appreciate the true meaning of 
gentleness, and to recognize its highest type as exemplified 
by both Buddha and Jesus. The rank had been the guinea's 
stamp. Avarice, greed, brutality and oftimes barbarous 
deportment had won prestige in the eyes of the world. 
Preachers had cowed under the influence of the gilded 
epoch. The brute left over was manifesting, as it yet does, 
in those who have pushed to the front as does the strong- 
est beast in the jungle. It was time for such an editorial, 
and it is to the glory of the press that it could dissemi- 
nate such teaching. It taught the world that a definition 
of "gentleman" could be rendered which has not been ex- 
celled — "one who never intentionally gives pain to man or 
beast." The martinet in the army and navy needed to con- 
sider it; the narrow-grooved sycophant who has obtained by 
means fair or foul a position in the civil service or in large 
corporations, who had not the breeding of even the cosmo- 
politan, and who would prefer to wound the sensitive na- 
ture of a subordinate, needed admonition; a press lecture 
was better than a pistol shot. The age was ripe for it; the 
arrogance of capital has felt the growing tenderness of the 

187 



spirit of Buddha and the Nazarene; humanitarian societies 
received an impetus; the social tyrant recognizes that the 
world knows a sham when it sees it. 

Ideas are transforming; the commonplace becomes 
transfigured in this enlightened day, and the Nazarene, 
greatest and gentlest Teacher of all history, is becoming 
more intelligently understood. Theosophy has aided in the 
teaching. 

But here comes a Baptist preacher in Atlanta, who 
states from his pulpit that 'Theosophy is an invention of 
the devil." He is answered, as a matter of course, and by 
one not on the roster of the Society, in a manner which 
shows the latent force of a true Christianity. His blast 
under the cloak of religion simply verified the saying: 
"Preachers have long tongues and the people have long 
ears." To such rant, from such a quarter, the Theosophist 
simply asks that the pew-holders in that congregation read 
James Lane Allen's "Reign of Law." 

Another preacher at the National Capital, a Methodist, 
gains a momentary notoriety by a published sermon in 
which he wishes to have every book in the world burned 
that does not agree with the Bible. The Theosophist an- 
swers from his point of view that Truth can better be 
served by reading all books. The highest type of Christian- 
ity is found where this practice is dominant; the lowest 
where it is not. More books are now read than ever, and 
still the preachers maintain that Christianity is stronger 
than ever. 

Once more; a concerted action seems to manifest in the 
bigoted sects when a body is cremated under the auspices 
of a Theosophical Society at a funeral ceremony. A bishop 
in Canada recently has called attention to the authority of 
the church which forbids such practice, and brands it with 
that well-worn word — "infidel." If issue is to be joined on 
this question at intervals, in order to bolster a declining 

188 



faith in the literal resurrection of the physical body, the 
Theosophist, in presenting his case in court, will prefer 
to place disinterested witnesses on the stand. It makes the 
case stronger before that great tribunal of the public con- 
sciousness. 

Frances E. Willard, so long and so ably the head of the 
W. C. T. U., would hardly be called an infidel, yet this is 
what she, as a great teacher, left for instruction as to her 
own body: 

"Holding these opinions, I have the purpose to help 
forward progressive movements even in my latest hours, 
hence hereby decree that the earthly mantle which I shall 
drop ere long, when my real self passes onward into the 
world unseen, shall be swiftly enfolded in flames and ren- 
dered powerless harmfully to affect the health of the living. 
Let no friend of mine say aught to prevent the cremation 
of my cast-off body. The fact that the popular mind has 
not come to this decision renders it all the more my duty, 
who have seen the light, to stand by it in death as I have 
sincerely meant in life, to stand by the great cause of poor, 
oppressed humanity. There must be explorers along the 
pathways, scouts in all armies. This has been my 'call' 
from the beginning, by nature; let me be true to its in- 
spiring and cneery mandate even unto this last." 

One of the ecclesiastics of a number who allowed them- 
selves to be interviewed on Cremation stated that "none 
but advanced thinkers believed in it." It is very evident 
that Frances E. Willard is classed in the world's ethical 
literature as a decidedly advanced thinker. And there are 
many more; and the number is increasing, as attested by 
statistics. The intelligent people of the world are begin- 
ning to realize, with the aid of science, the teaching of Rev. 
Lyman Abbott: 

"There is at death an end of the body. It knows no res- 
urrection save in grass and flowers. The resurrection, the 
anastasis or up-standing as the New Testament calls it, is 
the resurrection of the spirit. The phrase "resurrection of 



189 



the body' never occurs in the New Testament. But every 
death is a resurrection of the spirit." 

This is an advance, decidedly, on the old theological 
presentation, and is concurred in by a galaxy of men of 
light and leading, but a further progress, according to the 
Theosophist, will be made when the word "soul" is sub- 
stituted for "spirit." As soul is individuated, has a "go" 
to it of its own, as explained heretofore, and as spirit is an 
all pervasive principle never individualized, neither mine 
nor thine, it would seem that for teaching purposes, the inter- 
changability of soul and spirit could profitably be dropped. 
And, at all events, the less educated clergy, could well 
afford to drop entirely such an illogical, unscientific and ir- 
rational dogma as the resurrection of the physical body. 

The stickler for orthodox tenets asks the Theosophist 
what his attitude may be toward the Ten Commandments. 
Simply this, that they were found to be good for the wel- 
fare of man a thousand years before the time of Moses, as 
is proven by the Assyrian tablets which contain analogous 
accounts of the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge. This 
makes the Book of Genesis a collection of prehistoric tra- 
ditions re-written, and traditions only, as is further proved 
by the more recent disclosures in archaeology. It is now 
generally conceded that even the Assyrians borrowed from 
earlier traditions. And these traditions are based on alle- 
gories wherever found and allegories to quote again from 
Prof. Max Muller "say one thing and mean another." 
Hence the utility of the secret doctrine to the Theosophist. 
It is a key to ancient allegories. It explains as nothing else 
can, at present. We may discover other keys. 

Nevertheless, a certain Presbyterian preacher, in Wash- 
ington, a few years ago who advertised in advance that he 
would preach on Theosophy, stated in the sermon that he 
had spent two hours examining the Secret Doctrine, and 
had found nothing in it. It is fair to state that he spoke the 

190 



truth, for many a Theosophist has studied it for twenty 
years and has not, as yet, found all there is in it. But the 
preacher in question knew more about Theosophy after 
that sermon than before. He was answered by students 
who had spent many a two hours on the veiled teachings of 
the ancients. 

A ritualist asks what Theosophists do with the Trinity 
in their studies. Simply trace it to its origins, and in the 
tracing find it is decidedly not a Christian symbol, but bor- 
rowed from older cults. In Egypt it was Osiris, Isis and 
Horus. In other nations it had peculiar names and mean- 
ings. In India it conveyed the most intelligent teaching. 
Creator — Preserver — Destroyer, as Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, 
and even in this classification it was intended to convey 
but a knowledge of these aspects of a One Power. No San- 
scrit scholar ever became so unthinkable to himself as to 
attempt to crowd three persons into one. The Hindu phil- 
osopher when properly interpreted meant much the same 
as does the modern thinker who expresses his sublime 
thought of cosmic aspects as Matter, Force and Conscious- 
ness, or as the later school has it, Matter, Energy and Intel- 
ligence. 

As a further result of research the Theosophist who is 
ever diligent and conscientious, seeking for the Truth, fails 
to find any rite, ceremony, or symbol in Christianity save 
those borrowed from faiths called pagan and heathen. If 
they serve, at their best, as instruments, it is well they were 
adopted; if they are revered as a "grace giving symbolism" 
as defined by a church authority, the Theosophist is candid 
in his criticism, and expresses but little reverence. 

As to church edifices, which in our civilization are 
needed as a means to promote religion and not to be under- 
stood as constituting religion itself, the attitude of the The- 
osophist is that of harmony, but it seems as if the multi- 
plication of such structures may become bewildering as dif- 

191 



ferentiation in the natural course of evolution into sects 
progresses. In the average rural towns of say three thou- 
sand inhabitants, there are from six to eight such estab- 
lishments, all hating each lovingly for Christ's sake. The 
sermons preached in many of these provincial temples have 
the ring of the sixteenth century. It is to these we look for 
the most accurate mapping — the latest physical geography 
of hell; also for the most detailed anatomy and physiology 
of the devil. An estimate made with some care in a Mary- 
land town a short time ago disclosed an annual expenditure 
of over ten thousand dollars to keep all the churches alive, 
for the three thousand inhabitants, of which the average 
attendance in all was about six hundred each Sunday. In 
the same town, for educational purposes, three thousand a 
year was all that could be available under the system 
prevalent. The Theosophist would ardently recommend 
that the situation be actually reversed. Give the ten thou- 
sand dollars to education. Get teachers rather than preach- 
ers is the plea of the Theosophist. 

In all of the research, as far back as all records reach, 
it has not been found where the so-called Founder of any 
religion was ever present at the laying of a corner stone 
of any church. Indeed, the most careful search on this line, 
finds Krishna, Confucius, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus and Ma- 
homet, out among the people. It is always afterward that 
a ceremonious priesthood seeks to erect institutions in imi- 
tation of those which the Founders shunned, and it is 
priestcraft which pronounces them holy. The Founders 
are not on record as ever having performed such an office. 

Nevertheless it is difficult to enumerate all the points 
of agreement and non-agreement when the Theosophist is 
compared and contrasted with the orthodox Christian. 
About the easiest way to dispose of the argument is to 
quote President Hyde of Dartmouth College: 

"The ousiness of the scholar is the pursuit of truth. He 
is to find out and formulate the facts regardless of creeds, 
teachings of traditions, decrees of councils, or votes of as- 
semblies. If he does less than this, he is a coward and a de- 
serter. If he does more, he is a demagogue and a charlatan. 



192 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE SCIENTIFIC ASPECT OF THEOSOPHY. 

In the Ancient Wisdom, Philosophy, Science and Re- 
ligion were combined into one system; the grouping was 
called Wisdom. The modern Theosophist fails to discover 
wherein in our day oue aspect of knowing can be more 
sacred or profane than another. The effort of the scientist 
to attain to the ultimate reality is as holy as that of the 
theologian. 

Theosophy admits all physical laws discovered by sci- 
ence, but it asserts the existence of others which modify 
the action of those we ordinarily know. In the psychical 
domain there is warrant to assert that the ancients were 
superior in attainment. The Chairs of Psychology are now 
creeping warily to conclusions reached long ago. 

Even so materialistic a reasoner as Prof. Ernst Haeckel, 
of the University of Jena, in his "Riddle of the Universe," 
is compelled to say: 

"As the knowledge of Nature, the object of the present 
philosophic study, is itself a part of the life of the soul, 
and as anthropology, and even cosmology, presuppose a 
correct knowledge of the 'psyche,' we may regard Psychol- 
ogy (the scientific study of the soul) both as the foundation 
and the postulate of all other sciences. Prom another point 
of view it is itself a part of philosophy, or physiology or 
anthropology." 

While the Theosophist may agree to such a statement, 
an exception, and a decided one, will be taken to the same 
author, wherein he states that "the supreme and all-pervad- 

14 193 



ing law of nature, the true and only cosmological law, is, 
in my opinion, the law of substance, in the sense that all 
other known laws of nature are subordinate to it." 

Under this "law of substance" he embraces two supreme 
laws of different origin and age; the older, the chemical 
law of the conservation of matter and the younger, the 
physical law of the conservation of energy. But he gives 
no adhesion to any law of the conservation of a third factor 
in the universe, the conservation of consciousness. It is 
not so much that he ignores it; he denies it, as witness the 
following: 

"These two great cosmic theorems, the chemical law 
of the persistence of matter, and the physical law of the 
persistence of force, are fundamentally one — still very far 
from being generally accepted. It is stoutly contended by 
the entire dualistic philosophy, vitalistic biology and paral- 
lelistic psychology, even, in fact, by a few (inconsistent) 
monists, who think they find a check to it in Consciousness, 
in the higher mental activity of man, or in other phenomena 
of our 'free mental life.' " 

And to make his reasoning more forcible to his clientele 
he adds: 

"Even the most elaborate and most perfect forms of en- 
ergy that we know, the psychic life of the higher animals, 
the thought and reason of man depend on material 
processes, or changes in the neuro-plasm of the ganglionic 
cells." 

The Theosophist parts company with Haeckel. His 
works have been studiously investigated, however, by the 
students of the Eastern lore for it is a rule to read all and 
compare all. His "Riddle of the Universe" is an abridge- 
ment — a clever summing up of his conclusions, reaching 
back some years. 

But another riddle is presented in the able production 
of Prof. Goldwin Smith, who gives his "Guesses at the Rid- 
dle of Existence" and some very good guessing is presented 

194 



if a Theosophist may be allowed to pass in judgment upon 
it. Here is an extract to begin with: 

"Is there anything to suggest a key to the nature and 
operations of the power which enters the universe other 
than the consciousness of upward effort in ourselves? In 
what we see there appears to be a general 'travailing' and 
a struggling towards perfection, as though something like 
effort and not fiat were the law. From an atomic nebula 
without form and void our earth has come to be what it is. 
Man has risen from the brute and is rising still. The effort 
is in him, yet the force and direction must have been sup- 
plied. " 

• In Haeckel's materialistic philosophy, this force and 
direction thus supplied are unaccounted for. The Theoso- 
phist seeks for them in the Universal Consciousness, and to 
his satisfaction, finds sufficient in the facts as manifested, 
to warrant the assumption that such is the source. 

Pursuing the argument that effort may be, after all, the 
law of nature, the learned writer emphasizes the deduction 
as follows: 

"Character can be formed only by effort, which implies 
something against which to strive. For aught we know, 
effort, or something which we can only describe as effort, 
not fiat, or mere evolution, may be the real law of the uni- 
verse." 

Haeckel's real law of the universe is the law of sub- 
stance. Both writers, in the attempt to solve riddles, each 
from his own point of view, come perilously near each 
other when touching the function of affinity or the cosmic 
process. 

Haeckel speaks of the "fundamental unity of affinity 
in the whole of nature, from the simplest chemical process 
to the most complicated love story," and says it "receives 
empirical confirmation from the interesting progress of cel- 
lular psychology, the great significance of which we have 
only learned to appreciate in the last thirty years," and 
deduces therefrom a "universal soul of the simplest char- 



195 



acter for even the atom, and the same may be said of mole- 
cules which are composed of two or more atoms. ,, 

Prof. Gold win Smith alleges that "good character only 
could have a life-giving affinity to the power of good." The 
power of affinity is postulated in both instances, but surely, 
one realm transcends the other. 

Prof. Lester F. Ward, rated as the leading scientist of 
Washington, thinks he has discovered in one word a key 
which will unlock much of the mystery which encompasses 
us about. His talismanic word — to him almost a mantram 
— is achievement. Those who achieve are immortal; they 
live in the race to come after us. His argument is on lines 
parallel to Haeckel. The survivors are — to use Haeckers 
terse term — "the picked minority of the qualified fittest." 
And these fittest, according to Prof. Ward, are those which 
have achieved. 

The Theosophist demurs at such a sharp line. He 
rather clings to the line of effort. The man who tries to 
achieve is as valuable to nature's process as the one who is 
rated by philosophers as a success. The bones in the huge 
mound at Arlington, marked "The Unknown" indicate an 
immortality as enduring as the bronze figures on horseback 
apportioned to the reservations of Washington. Both made 
the same effort. The immortality is gained by the effort, 
not by what men measure, label, appraise or weigh, as 
achievement. If one tries, and fails, the effort saves him, 
not the measure of success from a human estimate. 

Prof. Goldwin Smith, although not rated as a religious 
writer, comes nearer to a good "guess" at the riddle when 
he states: 

"If, as our hearts tell us, there is a Supreme Being, He 
cares for us; He knows our perplexities; He has His plan. 
If we seek truth, He will enable us in due time to find it. 
Whether we find it cannot matter to Him; it may conceiva- 
bly matter to Him, whether we seek it." 



196 



In other words, if we make the effort, we have done 
our best. If we have not achieved to the measure of Prof. 
Ward's philosophy all will be well, and this is but stating 
in a practical manner the law of Karma, the law of cause 
and effect, well canvassed and debated by the most astute 
reasoners the world ever saw — the sages of the East. 

A word or two should be added in reference to the po- 
sition taken by Prof. Ward, which smacks strongly of the 
Positivism of the day, that we are to live hereafter in the 
race. Prof. Goldwin Smith has ably met this presentation: 

"Positivism hopes that it has indemnified, or more than 
indemnified, us for the loss of personal immortality by ten- 
dering an impersonal immortality in the consequences of 
our lives and actions prolonged through the generations 
which come after us to the end of time. But this immortal- 
ity is not only impersonal, it is unconscious, and therefore, 
so far as our sensations are concerned, not distinguishable 
from annihilation. It is not even specially human; we 
share it with every motor, animate or inanimate, with the 
horse which draws a wagon, with the water which turns 
a mill, with the food which passes into the muscles of the 
consumer, with the falling stone. 

***** 

Besides, all theories which pretend to console man for 
his mortality by making him a partaker in the immortal- 
ity of his race, seem to encounter the objection that the 
race itself is not immortal. How long the planet which is 
the abode of man will last or remain fit for man's habita- 
tion, the oracles of science may not be agreed, but they ap- 
pear to be agreed in holding that the end must come. If they 
are right, philosophy does but mock us when she bids us find 
our real spiritual life in efforts to perfect humanity, and 
our paradise in anticipation of the state of bliss into which 
humanity, when perfected, will be brought.'* 

Suppose now, that the Theosophist is allowed a hearing 
in court. He insists on the "stubborn power of permanence 
in whatever has attained individuality." Faraday and 
Goethe have been quoted in prior chapters on this point. 
The claim is that the individual persists, while the race 



197 



may decay and die. The units of consciousness maintain 
their own according to the degree of effort put forth. What 
we have wrought in character we can take away, to again 
quote Humboldt. The units of the race reincarnate in 
the race, if the power of affinity thus draws them. With 
such a posit, Prof. Ward's tenet may be admissable, in all 
reason, that we live in the race to come, but a Theosophist 
insists that such another life will be the existence of the 
units. The dead to rise again must be born again, as a re- 
cent writer states it. Does not death feed life? But will 
the death of Prof. Ward feed a life or lives which made not 
corresponding effort? Who is to inherit his achievement but 
himself? Has any other self a claim to the sum total of 
his life effort? If man is to revert to the collective exist- 
ence of the vegetable world and be pooled, such reasoning 
might stand. But Prof. Ward is an individuated portion of 
the Great-All Consciousness. Is it simply his name that 
will live on printed page? It will be contended that his 
thoughts will live as do those of Plato, of Goethe, of Em- 
erson. But how much of Plato's thoughts have we? Must 
we take Jowett's Plato, with its English coloring and shad- 
ing? Some do, but the riper scholarship of the age is be- 
ginning to discard it. The Theosophist would prefer the 
interpretative power of the French philosophers. Even 
Prof. Ward pays a tribute to the French thought as against 
the English. How many have understood Emerson? Has 
the race ever done justice to any great individuality? Why 
did Prof. Max Muller believe that he was the reincarnation 
of an ancient Hindu? Simply because he could appreciate 
the equity of nature in allowing him to do justice to himself. 
One short life is not sufficient, with all its possible achieve- 
ment, to attain such a perfection as is idealized by the The- 
osophist in the final goal — the Perfectibility of Man. 

In the broader generalizations of modern thought, 
camps are divided, the Materialists and Realists on one side, 

198 



the Idealists on the other. The Materialist believes in phys- 
ical causation; the Idealist in mental or spiritual causation. 
The Theosophist aligns with the Idealist for he is forever 
striving after the realization of his ideals. The best of mod- 
ern scientific thought is arrayed on this side. A strong il- 
lustration of reasoning on this line is given by Professor 
DuBois of the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College: 

"If our intellectual action finds physical expression in 
nature, and not only reason but imagination is found to be 
an aid in physical investigation — may we not retrace our 
steps, and again define all science as the verification of the 
ideal in nature" 

This is Emerson's teaching, wherein he proclaims the 
universe an "externalization of the soul," and argues that 
everything in nature answers to a moral power. The The- 
osophist believes he is on safe scientific induction when he 
declares in conformity to the ancient teaching that it is the 
soul which has a material body or covering, not the body 
possessed of a soul as a property of matter. Matter obeys 
will; will is not the servant of matter. Mind creates, is 
creating, always has created. The creative mind in man is 
the same mind which is manifested in nature. It is active 
everywhere. 

This leads an occasional belligerent to assert that The- 
osophy thus becomes Pantheism. In a general sense, such 
teaching elaborated by Spinoza is not rejected by the The- 
osophist, but in a specialized sense, the teaching held by the 
ancients of the more scientific cast of mind is that the 
former is Deity in Nature, while the latter is Deity in Man. 
The highest product in the process of evolution should cer- 
tainly exercise more deific powers than the vegetable. Pro- 
fessor Lester F. Ward marks such a line, clearly, in dis- 
tinguishing between man and the animals; the latter can- 
not change their environment — man can. And again to 
quote Professor Du Bois: 

199 



"What limit can we set to man's action? So far as we 
understand the constitution of the universe we live in, it 
is made sensitive to will, and through its whole extent it 
thrills at the touch of spirit hands. The action of man's 
will in such an universe may accomplish any conceivable 
result." 

This is as broad in conception as the saying of the 
Upanishad: "There is no limit to the knowing to the Self 
that knows." Such is the ideal which to the Theosophist 
is always an impelling forward attraction, — the divine ideal- 
ism of Emerson. 

Tyndall, who confessed that he had been impressed with 
Emerson's thought dealt a blow to the materialistic school 
in that memorable address of 1874 before the British Asso- 
ciation: 

"Abandoning all disguise, the confession which I feel 
bound to make before you is that I prolong the vision back- 
ward across the boundary of experimental evidence and 
discover in matter, which we, in our ignorance, and not- 
withstanding our professed reverence for its Creator, have 
hitherto covered with opprobrium, the promise and potency 
of every form of life." 

That "promise and potency" in matter guiding and con- 
trolling, is more than the "substance" of Haeckel; more 
than the "one substance" of Spinoza; more than the "two 
substances" of Descartes; more than the "innumerable sub- 
stances" of Leibnitz. It is the real sub (under) starts (to 
stand), it stands under all — the Great Breath in Eastern 
terminology, the Universal Consciousness in the classifica- 
tion of the West. 

The dogmatic scientist (and there are such) asks the 
Theosophist, what broad classification he may be willing to 
adopt, if Haeckel's monism is discarded. To which it can 
be answered, that instead of making matter and energy one, 
(mono,) monistic, why not accept Herbert Spencer's three- 
fold classification, Substance, Energy and Consciousness? 

200 



A monism can here be established, if Consciousness controls 
both substance and energy. Or, take the later classification, 
which seems to please some scientific reasoners, — Matter, 
Energy and Intelligence. The monistic idea here, would be 
in the intelligent control of the two subordinate aspects. Or, 
take again the classification which seems to dovetail with 
the thought of the Eastern Physics when properly inter- 
preted, — Space — Motion — Consciousness. Here, too, the 
monistic postulate is in Consciousness which guides all 
modes of motion throughout all Space. And in this thought, 
Man is a center of consciousness, a unit, possessing that 
stubborn power of permanence because he has attained to 
a reality. He is certainly as real as a particle of oxygen, 
and this persists "if it pass into a thousand combinations, 
and lie hid for a thousand years," to quote again that in- 
structive object lesson by Faraday. But the scientist will 
surely come who will reduce that particle of oxygen to its 
ultimate atoms, and if he does, it will still be claimed, as 
Faraday maintained, yet stronger proof, that the particle 
of oxygen was able to persist until forced apart; and this 
forcing will be done by the mind of man, a part of the same 
Universal Mind which guided that particle of oxygen to 
its purpose — its reality. 

Professor Brinton in commenting on the powers of man 
by which he reaches with psychic processes other than rea- 
soning, states: 

"The teachings of the severest science tell us that Mat- 
ter is, in its last analysis, Motion, and that motion is 
nought else than Mind; and who dare deny that in their 
unconscious functions our minds may catch some overtones, 
as it were, from the harmonies of the Universal Intelligence 
thus demonstrated by inductive research and vibrate in uni- 
son therewith." 

In support of this position he refers to the results of 
the physical investigations of Helmholtz, and to their logi- 
cal application to mental science, by George John Romanes, 

201 



in his Mind and Motion; to the position of Prof. Paulsen in 
his Introduction to Philosophy ; and to such lines of thought 
as are presented in Prof. Dolbear's Matter, Ether, and Mo- 
tion. 

Professor Dolbear's work has a charm for the student 
of the ancient Physics, especially that phase which has re- 
cently engaged the more studious Theosophists in following 
the fascinating presentation by Mr. Thomas E. Willson, who 
for many years was the Librarian of the New York World, 
and who died recently, while continuing from month to 
month the deep study in the "Theosophical Forum" under 
the heading "Ancient and Modern Physics." 

Mr. Willson stated in denning his position that our sci- 
entists are not exact in giving the atom two planes of vibra- 
nt has Four. You merely surround it with etheric 
atoms, and this is correct so far as it goes. You only wish 
to explain physical problems. But there are other prob- 
lems to be explained, problems of life and mind, and the 
same knowledge you have explains them as well as the 
others, if you simply avail yourselves of it. That you do 
not consider the atom as four-fold instead of two-fold Is 
your own fault. I have not told you anything you did not 
already know. I have only asked you to apply your present 
knowledge of physics to these problems of life and mind, 
and apply your reasoning powers." 

"The chording vibration in an atom of matter of 
"The two planes produces Force, or phenomena; 
"The three planes produces Life; 
"The four planes produces Mind." 

And in explanation, more in detail, as a summary of the 
chapters he is led to say: 

"There is no 'oriental science' because the oriental does 
not attach the same value to merely physical knowledge 
that we do. But that must not be understood to imply that 
there is no oriental physics. In all matters that interest us 
now, so far as principles are concerned, the oriental knew 



202 



all that we know. He knew it thousands of years ago, when 
our ancestors were sleeping with the cave bears." 

Perhaps no better use could be made of the few remain- 
ing pages of this book than to enlarge on many of the won- 
derful phases of the orientals so admirably disclosed by the 
gifted writer who has recently passed over to the plane he 
so well studied, but justice to the reader will demand, that 
along with the offering of such postulates, elaborate ex- 
planations should be given, for Mr. Wilson's condensation 
was for those who had devoted some study to modern 
physics. 

This much, however, can be said on the general aspect 
of the case. The modern scientist is apparently loath to 
allude to anything pertaining to science which proceeds 
from the Sanscrit. There seems to be a studied effort to 
ignore the 144 colleges of India, many of which have Profes- 
sors in specialization which will compare with other insti- 
tutions of learning. Professor Max Muller in one of his 
addresses before the Oriental Society alluded to the fact that 
Englishmen seem to look upon the orientals as "niggers, 
whatever that term may mean." This, presumably, because 
the Hindus are a subjugated race. The French school of 
philosophers and scientists are more generous in treatment, 
and pity it is, that their works are not more speedily trans- 
lated into English. 

Nearly everything in Anglo-Saxon thought starts with 
Greece. This is, undoubtedly, owing to the fact that the 
curriculum of colleges places Latin and Greek as part of 
the regular prescribed course. It seems to be forgotten that 
we owe the roots of our language to the Sanscrit, which can 
be called the Mother tongue for all general purposes. India 
was the cradle of religions to keep again in the general 
sense; she gave the most exalted concepts which have en- 
dured; nearly all rites and ceremonies can be traced to 
Vedic and pre-Vedic thought. Evolution as a doctrine or 

203 



process in nature, was lisped by even the early Aryan chil- 
dren thousands of years before Grecian civilization attained 
its climax, yet Edwin Clodd labels his book on Evolution 
"From Thales to Darwin" unmindful of the fact that schol- 
arship will not care to dispute that Thales, usually listed as 
the first of the Grecian Philosophers, traveled East to learn 
something, as did Solon, Pythagoras, Plato, and a list of 
others which would appear formidable if published. 

On the whole, it seems not only superficial in many of 
our modern scientists, but absolutely silly to maintain that 
the ancients were ignorant of principles and processes in 
Nature claimed as patented by modern brains. 

Recurring again to the series of chapters by Mr. Will- 
son, he states: 

"The oriental idea of the universe does not differ funda- 
mentally, in its general conception, from that of modern 
science; but it goes farther and explains more." 

There are students in other fields, notably the archaeo- 
logical and philological, who insist that the ancient ideas of 
the cosmos differ from the best thought of our day in term- 
inology only. The facts as they are disclosed from time to 
time seem to warrant such a position. In Psychology it is 
now quite well settled by those who care to investigate for 
themselves that the ancients were decidedly superior. But 
this is no discredit to the account of the moderns. It is 
but a quarter of a century since we have fairly gotten to 
work at it with an earnestness and a system; but the mate- 
rialistic school seems doomed to the wall at every step for- 
ward. 

Here is a case in point. We have been taught during 
the past forty years that the causes of the belief in immor- 
tality began with man's idea of his double. He had emerged 
from the brute kingdom until he became somewhat self- 
conscious. Looking down into a pool of water he saw an im- 
age of himself, therefore his double, Then in dreams he was 

204 



away and wandering in happy hunting grounds and doing 
things on the dream-plane which pleased him better than 
anything in his hard objective life; therefore, there was a 
sensuous plane beyond better than this. 

The science of philology alone, has proved all this mate- 
rialistic structure very precarious. Archaeology confirms 
it to a great extent. Psychology nails it to the not only 
improbable, but to the ridiculous. Wherever the mind of 
man has exercised the functions of intelligence, it has been 
met by a responsive intelligence which is universal and 
psychic in its power. Not a double; not a dream, but a 
something which stern and exact science is even now will- 
ing to group under that convenient term "environmental 
stimuli." 

These crude teachings on "primitive man" by scientists 
who write in their libraries are being overthrown by search- 
ers who dwell among tribes and know something of them. 
Herbert Spencer and Sir John Lubbock cannot in this ex- 
acting age be accepted as the compeers of those who seek 
the psychic manifestations in the rudest peoples by sojourn- 
ing in their midst. Even among these there is occasionally 
a miscarriage, especially by missionaries who are not 
equipped with the scientific habit of thought before setting 
out into the wilds. 

An instance is quoted by Prof. D. G. Brinton in his "Re- 
ligions of Primitive Peoples." A missionary, Bleek, among 
the Bushmen of South Africa, found them, as rated, the 
lowest of the human race; no temples, no altars, no ritual, 
and according to his estimate with no conceptions, even in 
the budding, of the faintest moral obligations; yet he filled 
in manuscript, he says, seventy-seven quarto volumes, and 
admits that he was far from exhausting the supply, of tales 
collected among them concerning their gods in their rela- 
tions to men and animals. Had the missionary been trained 
to a proper appreciation of the scientific method of investi- 

205 



gation he might have asked himself, whence these thou 
sands of tales? Something had been lost in the earlier 
history of these degenerated people, and what remained was 
the myths and folk-lore, and both had lost their original 
meaning. 

Nevertheless, while stoutly contending for the psychic 
origin of nearly all phases of religion (or that which passes 
under the name of religion) let it be clearly understood that 
the Theosophist of a studious cast of mind does not wish 
to be enrolled with those who carry psychism, and psychical 
practices to extremes under the cloak of religious exaltation. 
Hysterical mania is easily defined and discernible by the 
formulated rules of a scientific psychology. Minds disor- 
dered by religious excitement whether at the noisy revival 
or in the more subdued ceremonies, are worked up to a high 
contagious pitch through collective suggestion. And in 
cases of auto-suggestion, many pretenders to knowledge on 
higher planes of consciousness follow crazily the disordered 
fancies of their sub-conscious selves, mistaking them for 
the inspiration of divine emanations. And Theosophy has 
suffered because of such pretenders who go about claiming 
that they have been trained by long effort to function on 
these high planes, and can bring back to the objective ex- 
istence a clear memory of what they there perceived. These 
uncanny narrations are found in an occasional treatise la- 
belled "Devachanic Planes" and the extravagance of vision 
is what has brought reproach on the system of thought 
known as Theosophy. It is in order again to requote the 
declaration of Professor Max Muller: 

"Theosophy has been so greatly misapprehended that it 
was high time to restore it to its proper function." 

The scientific study of Psychology will explain these 
mental states produced by long effort, and it will also ex- 
plain why these so-called trained experts are as sincere as 
are the trance-mediums. In the "Guesses at the Riddle of 

206 



Existence" heretofore quoted, there occurs this telling para- 
graph touching these "trained" ones: 

"He is, however exalted, merely imposing on himself. 
He creates by a subtle sophistication of his own mind the 
cloudy object of his faith and worship. He has himself 
written his Book of Mormon, and hidden it where he finds 
it." 

There is yet open the mooted question of direct knowl- 
edge through Intuition. Many scientists deny it; others 
sustain it. The Theosophist adheres to it as part of the 
teaching of the ancient Psychology. Willson in his "An- 
cient and Modern Physics," following the lore of the East, 
takes a bold stand, and Theosophists almost unanimously 
follow him; they will cling to their position until convinced 
of error. He says: 

"Knowledge comes to us m two ways, and there are two 
kinds of knowledge. 1. That which comes through our 
senses, by observation and experience. This includes rea- 
soning from relation. 2. That which comes through intui- 
tion — or, as some writers inaccurately say, 'through the 
formal laws of thought/ 

* ******* 

Not our reason, but our intuition, said that the sun 
stood and the earth revolved daily. Ask the ablest living 
geographer or physicist to prove to you that the earth re- 
volves daily, and he will reply that it would be the job of 
his life. It can be done at great expense and great labor, 
but that is because we know the answer and can invent a 
way of showing it, not because there are any observations 
from which a deduction would naturally follow. Nearly if not 
all our great discoveries have come to us through intuition, 
and not from observation and experience. When we know 
the lines on which to work, when intuition has given us the 
KEY, then the observation and experience men prize so 
highly, and the reason they worship so devoutly, will fill in 
the details. The knowledge that flows from observation, 
and the reasoning from the facts it records, is never more 
than relatively true; it is always limited by the facts, and 
any addition to the facts requires the whole thing to be re- 



207 



stated. We never know all the facts; seldom even the more 
important; and reason grasps only details. 

We have yet to coin a proper word to express what 
comes to us through intuition. The old English word 'wis- 
dom' originally did. The old verb 'wis' meant what a man 
knew without being told it, as 'ken' meant knowledge by ex- 
perience. Try and prove by reason that a straight line is 
the shortest distance between two points, or that a part 
never can be greater than the whole, and your reason has 
an impossible task. 'You must take them for axioms,' it 
says. You must take them because you wis them, not be- 
cause you (ken) them. 

* * * * * 

The recognition of the two sources of knowledge, the 
work of the spirit within us and of the mind within us, is 
absolutely necessary to correctly comprehend the true sig- 
nificance of the results of modern science, and to accept the 
ancient." 

As an additional suggestion before parting with the 
reader who may be interested in the higher thought of our 
day (and Theosophy always will, as it always has, when 
properly interpreted, thus absorb the highest thought) — at- 
tention should be called to a scientific reasoner of no mean 
merit, indeed, one eminent in the scholarship of the age, 
Professor C. Lloyd Morgan, of Bristol, England, who, in 
commenting on "Psychology and the Ego" says: 

"Are we just set in the midst of a series of inevitable 
sequences, determinate with nothing to determine them, 
driven onward with nothing to drive them, purposeful with- 
out a purpose, rational without reason, phenomena without 
a cause, a riddle to which there is no answer, a monstrous 
puzzle-problem to which it is a mere waste of time to wish 
or hope for a solution? That depends entirely on whether 
we are content to accept a scientific interpretation of nature 
and of mind as the be-all and end-all of human endeavor. 
I am persuaded that science ought not to express an opinion 
for or against any of the metaphysical postulates above sug- 
gested. They lie beyond its special province — outside of the 
sphere of thought within which its opinions are worthy of 
the most respectful consideration. Science has indeed a 



208 



perfect right to assert that neither Force nor Will nor any 
underlying cause has any place within the ideal construc- 
tions which it is the business of science to develop. But it 
has no right to restrict all thought within the limits of its 
formulae. That some men of science seek to do so is unfor- 
tunately true; but it is a cause of regret to many who value 
and admire the achievements of science within its proper 
sphere. 

Is there lying behind the phenomena with which biol- 
ogy and psychology have to deal a self or ego, of the exist- 
ence of which we are assured with the assurance of convic- 
tion, and to the operation of which we can refer the phe- 
nomenal sequences? In a word, is there beneath the surface 
of bodily charges and psychological concomitants an inform- 
ing spirit — a quickening soul? I do not answer these ques- 
tions. My own opinion or even conviction could have but 
little weight. But every thoughtful man should give them 
careful and serious consideration, mindful of the fact that 
great thinkers, men of wide culture and piercing insight, 
men freed from the inevitably narrowing influence of spec- 
ialism, men whose commanding intellect has emancipated 
them from the bondage of tradition, have given no hesitat- 
ing answer. I do not counsel subservience to authority. No 
man's convictions can stand in the place of my own. But 
modesty, that crowning virtue of the nineteenth century, 
should at least make us pause before we proclaim that our 
own rush lights have more illuminating power than the 
standard lamps whose rays still shine, unquenched after 
the lapse of centuries." 

Pursuing the thought of Professor C. Lloyd Morgan, the 
attentive Theosophist is forced to the conviction in common 
with most of the candid investigators of this wonderful era, 
that the study of Psychology is the most pressing need at 
this stage of culture. The wants of Psychical Research are 
emphasized at every fresh encounter in the procedure of in- 
vestigation. 

It would be well for Theosophical Societies, in the opin- 
ion of the author, to recall that whereas, when the Society 
was founded at New York in 1875 equal stress was placed 



209 



upon each of the three planks in the platform. Can it be 
consistently maintained that such is now the status? The 
first plank insisted upon the recognition of an Universal 
Brotherhood. Do not the Liberal pulpits do the work on 
this line in larger measure than can possibly the Theosophi- 
cal Societies? The second plank was incorporated to lead 
to a study of ancient religions and philosophies. After a 
quarter of a century, do we not find that the Unitarian, 
Congregational, and other Liberal institutions, supported 
by the Higher Criticism are filling the field in a most ac- 
ceptable manner? 

But as to the third plane — the study of the Psychic Pow- 
ers Latent in Man, and the unexplained laws of nature, how 
many, even of the liberal exponents are devoting due con- 
sideration to the solution of the thousands of problems 
which are constantly arising? The Society for Psychical 
Research in England, aided by its Branches in America, 
have done good work, and the Chairs of Psychology are aid- 
ing and abetting, but how much of this literature percolates 
among the people? What part of it is intelligible to the 
man on the street? 

Here is a field where the Theosophical Societies can dis- 
play their diffusive powers. On every hand there are form- 
ing so-called Occult Schools, claiming predicates that stag- 
ger the belief of the investigating mind. More than one as- 
serts for itself a head, which is none other than the reap- 
pearance of Christ! Many are in regular communication, as 
they claim, with the noblest the world has produced, though 
dead for centuries. A diligent and systematic study of Psy- 
chology as taught in the Occident in contrast and parallel 
with the ancient Psychology would soon restore the mental 
balance of many of these over-wrought psychical natures. 
The churches will not be at pains to help effect a cure; the 
Theosophical Societies can, in their organized functions, do 
much to bring about normal adjustment— wholesome equi- 

210 



librium. Yet, let it be understood that such procedure, 
while conducted on scientific lines as to observation and ex- 
periment with its consequent induction as well as deduction 
must be in accord with a pure Science. The definitions of 
such a science would cover many pages, but for the author, 
it is sufficient to recall the penetrating insight of Professor 
Clerk Maxwell, who, declared that "all Science is but a dis- 
closure of analogies." 

Reasoning by analogy will aid in dispelling many of 
these crude theories born and bred in schools of thought 
which have their source in the Suggestion of certain so- 
called occult heads. It will not be a waste of time or effort 
for classes on Theosophical lines to begin a systematic study 
of Psychology, following the lead of, say, Professor Ladd of 
Yale, or any other competent author, always bearing in 
mind that a better knowledge of the science can be obtained 
by comparing it with the ripest of the Eastern scholarship. 

Another charge made against the Theosophical Student 
classes is, that they read science into their theories; that 
having already a bias or preconceived notion that certain 
tenets of Eastern thought must be sound, the reenforce- 
ment is added by drawing on scientific principles as enun- 
ciated in the modern experimental knowledge of the West, 
thus making it appear to the public that Theosophy is as 
thoroughly scientific as any system of thought. 

This accusation is not well founded. The Theosophist 
can as well answer that the modern scientists have read into 
their "working hypotheses" the very essentials of Eastern 
thought. It is the silliest position one can take to accuse a 
Theosophist of following the teachings consequent upon 
Evolutionary processes merely because Darwin, or Lamarck 
before him, first brought the doctrine to light. The East 
taught it twenty thousand years ago in India. It is so com- 
pletely interwoven in the thought of their scholarship that 

211 



there is not now a trace of opposition to it. The clergy of 
all sects hold to it as part of the divine plan. 

It would not require much ingenuity on the part of a 
writer who craved for a sensational notoriety to frame a tale 
which would show more than coincidences on the part of 
certain scientific investigations. A daring and reckless 
writer might easily state that everything of general prin- 
ciples was stolen from the East; but it is not necessary to 
resort to such rash assertion. It is sufficient to state that 
when thought becomes free, and the bonds of traditionalism 
and dogmatism are broken, civilization will naturally reach 
a phase or condition when these old thoughts are thought 
over again, and psychological law will sustain this stand. 
The fulness of time had arrived when Lamarck and Darwin 
could enunciate such teachings, and the reading world was 
ready to receive it. It belonged to the scholarship of the 
day because of its capacity to receive it and assimilate it. 

A marked instance of such unjust inference against the 
Theosophists appeared in the Smithsonian Report of a few 
years ago, wherein, under the heading of "The Revival of 
Alchemy," the writer cast flings at the Theosophist who 
draws crowded houses to listen to views pretending to be 
scientific, and in the course of the narration much in detail 
was given in regard to the movement to resuscitate alchemi- 
cal doctrines and practices which have been particularly 
successful in France, where there are to-day four societies 
and a "university" claiming to possess occult knowledge of 
hermetic mysteries. These secret societies are named 
"Ordre de la Rose-Croix," "L'Orde Martiniste," "La Societe 
d'Homeopathic Hermetique" and "L'Association Alchimique 
de France." 

The writer says that the first two of these societies seem 
to work on lines similar to Free Masonry, 

"And claim that their secret mysteries were bequeathed 
by the last sages of Atlantis and by the Lemures to their 

212 



brethren in Asia and Egypt, dwellers in sanctuaries whence 
issued Krishna, Zoroaster, Hermes, Moses, Pythagoras, and 
Plato. The priestly magi who preserved this lore in the 
temples of Thebes, Heracleopolis, Aphrodite, Ptah, and Sera- 
pis were succeeded by secret alchemical societies of the first 
centuries of our era; then followed the hermetic lodges of 
the Arabs, and these gave rise to the Templars, the Rosicru- 
cians and the Martinists." 

The average reader may not be interested in these 
claims, which at first blush, might seem extravagant, but 
wise men for centuries have been working on these lines 
and their conclusions are not to be laughed away. Bulwer 
Lytton was initiated into a society which carries a fund of 
ancient lore yet untraversed by any Smithsonian student 
thus far encountered by the author, and Wendell Phillips, 
when preparing his lecture on "The Lost Arts/' gave hints 
to his intimate friends that there was in the world a custo- 
dian of much that is hidden. Canon Kingsley in his study 
of the Lost Atlantis had views similar. Leibnitz was ac- 
quainted with certain principles which he said he would 
not give out because the age was not ripe. The discoveries 
in the Sanscrit whetted the appetite of many a searcher. 
Had Professor Max Muller been in India instead of England 
he might have been initiated into certain truths, had he at 
the same time been free from bias, but he never would have 
been taken into the mysteries so long as he held positive 
ideas of Christian dogmas and traditions in reserve. One 
of the conditions of membership is that a man must be free! 

There are men in France who are pursuing studies on 
lines little understood by writers in the vicinage of the 
Smithsonian Institution. A mere canvass of the roster of 
membership, in which appear names eminent in the world's 
thought, ought to convince a fair-minded observer that they 
are not on a "fool's errand" in their search for truth, nor 
are they wasting their time on trying to make gold by some 
alchemical process. It is something higher than gold which 

213 



engages their attention. What may he evolved from the 
joint labors of these studious searchers none can tell; hut 
the world is being benefitted far more by their researches 
than by the materialistic outputs of those who cast re- 
proach on their earnest endeavor. 

The Theosophist who is an ardent searcher keeps in as 
close touch with these delving philosophers as his time and 
means will allow, and he can assert with all sincerity that 
while much has been revealed, there remains yet a vast 
ocean to explore, which too many of our scholars in Western 
thought have absolutely ignored. 

Notwithstanding a defence of the French school of phil- 
osophers who are pursuing trails of lost lore, with an ear- 
nestness and method not unbecoming the true scientific 
spirit, yet it must be acknowledged that there are in France, 
as in other countries, certain camps which adhere to the 
vagaries of a vapid mysticism, and claim to be Theosophists. 

214 



CHAPTER XII. 



CONTROVERTED QUESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. 

Black-faced Gothic letters at the head of a column in 
a daily newspaper of Indianapolis carry these words — "Dis- 
ciples of Blavatsky." This glaring announcement served 
the purpose of informing the public that "The Theosophical 
Society of America" was then in session at its annual con- 
vention in that city. It is presumed that the editor in 
charge of that paper really beieved that Theosophists are, 
as he has signalized them, and the matter-of-fact business 
public who read that journal whatever else they may for- 
get relating to the gathering of students, will surely retain 
that bold heading impressed with a clearness of imagina- 
tion on the memory. 

Many silly people in the world believe that Theosophists 
are naught else than disciples of Madame Helena Petrovna 
Blavatsky a Russian lady of noble birth, who is now dead 
but a decade, forgetful of the fact that Prof. Max Muller 
pronounces Theosophy as "that venerable system of thought 
well known to the Christian Fathers." And it appears 
strange, withal, that Madame Blavatsky should be credited 
as the founder of Theosophy despite the fact that it has 
been again and again published from her own pen that she 
did not claim to have brought the world anything new. 
Copying from Montaigne, she declared that she had brought 
to the West from the East, a bouquet of flowers, but all 
that she had contributed was the string that tied them. 

A Theosophist who is true to the principles of his sys- 
215 



tern of thought is a disciple of nobody; he cannot be, if hon- 
est with himself and to the basic principles which he cher- 
ishes. He is an individual in the strictest sense, and real- 
izes that he must stand alone; he came into the world 
alone, and will go hence alone. Adopting the forcible dec- 
laration of Horace Greeley he can consistently say: "I take 
no man's opinion, dead or alive, as my own." His Karma 
would not allow him to do otherwise. 

Madame Blavatsky was an interpreter of Eastern lore; 
in that sense she was a teacher. Her writings speak for 
themselves and will endure if they coordinate with the 
truth; if not, they will perish from the earth. But they 
cannot be harmed by the scornful flings of pulpiteers who 
mould a false opinion by denouncing Theosophy as "Blavat- 
skyism." 

Not many months ago a paid article in one of the cheap 
magazines of the country appeared, written by one who 
pretends to know much of the psychic forces in nature and 
man, who gave as his heading, "Madame Blavatsky High 
Priestess of Isis." Here, again, a busy public will refrain 
from going into a rigid scrutiny of the points suggested, 
but the average American who loves fair play, and has in- 
herently, the racial chivalry, will ask, as many did, why a 
man pretending to culture should not allow a woman to 
rest in peace without heaping calumny on her memory. 

To all such assaults, the Theosophist who never saw 
Madame Blavatsky and knows her only through her writ- 
ings, will answer that those nearest to her in domestic life 
were the better judges of her personality. The Countess 
Wachmeister, widow of the Swedish Minister at the Court 
of St. James, lived with her as a companion for three years 
during the period of her greatest trials and activity. The 
testimony of the Countess will outweigh that of the parti- 
san maligner. Those who were her pupils are rated as of 
the refined, sincere, and educated classes, and they can give 

216 



in detail all that is necessary for the framing of a verdict. 

Madame Blavatsky blundered in more than one in- 
stance, but none knew it better than herself, and no one 
regretted it so keenly as did she on the printed pages left 
us. She was human, therefore prone to error, but withal, 
a most remarkable woman. She is to be judged by her 
teachings, not by the slanders of those who knew little or 
nothing of her. But, whether good or bad, Theosophists 
are not her disciples, nor are they disciples of any person- 
ality that ever lived on earth, whether Krishna, Zoroaster, 
Osiris, Buddha, Jesus, or any human manifestation of light 
and leading. They are disciples of the synthesized thought 
of all great teachers; all the line from the Vedic Rishi, to 
our own Emerson, and many another great soul even in 
our own day and generation. They aspire to be in tune 
with the highest thought to which the human mind can 
reach, as well in Science as in Religion or Philosophy. Such 
a system of thought has to rest upon foundations apart 
from personalities, and must justify itself upon its own 
merits, meet the demands of reason, the moral sense and 
the higher intuitional nature. 

Another controverted question gains a further impetus 
by an editorial in one of the most extensively circulated 
daily papers of New York, (The Journal). The editor in 
answering a Theosophist uses these words: 

"Theosophy — which means 'the wisdom of the gods' — 
is a very charming philosophy; but the Theosophists pre- 
tend to a knowledge which we do not have, and which we 
really do not believe they possess. The only point in which 
we fully agree with Theosophists is this — that if there is 
immortality for man in future, there must have been im- 
mortality in the past. We must always have existed. Pre- 
existence is logically necessary to immortality. Our corre- 
spondent insists: 'You, Mr. Editor, know as well as I know 
that the knowledge of immortality has been in possession 



217 



of the human race as far back as the records go.' No, we 
do not know that; we wish we did." 

Here, the issue is joined without ceremony or special 
pleading; it is wholesome and refreshing because of its 
frankness. But the trial must be before the great open 
court of public opinion. 

The gist of the case is — "as far back as the records go." 
There remains, therefore, the determination by the best 
thought of the age, the ripest scolarship, as to how far back 
records can be traced. It becomes an interesting search, 
and with confidence allied to assurance, the Theosophist 
claims he has won his case. 

The most commonly accepted opinion, it is granted, is, 
that the oldest records are of the Hebrew race. This is now 
successfully refuted and archaeology will sustain the The- 
osophist. In order to present that side of the case it is but 
necessary to quote from a Sunday-school publication, where 
editorially the following is given as if by a court of final 
resort under the heading, "The Most Ancient Books": 

"The most ancient books are the writings of Moses, and 
the poems of Homer and Hesiod. The earliest sacred writ- 
ings of the Chinese are called the Five Kings, king meaning 
web of cloth, or the warp that keeps the threads in their 
place. They contain the best sayings of the best sages on 
the ethics — political duties of life. These sayings cannot 
be traced to a period higher than the eleventh century B. C. 
The 'Three Vedas' are the most ancient books of the Hin- 
doos, and it is the opinion of Max Muller, Wilson, Johnson 
and Whitney that they are not older than 11 centuries B. 0. 
The Zendavesta of the Persians is the grandest of all the 
sacred books next to the Bible. Zoroaster,whose sayings it 
contains, was born in the twelfth century B. C. Moses 
wrote his Pentateuch 15 centuries B. C. and, therefore, pre- 
ceded by 300 years the most ancient of the sacred writings." 

The above quotation is a fair specimen of the kind of 
archaeological literature certain educated (?) divines dole 
out to the people. For misrepresentation, and for lack of 



218 



a systematic knowledge of events as they have been un- 
earthed by the philologists, archaeologists and astronomers 
of our day, it is, to say the least, almost inexcusable. 

It is now well settled that the Egyptian Book of the 
Dead can be traced to about 6,000 years B. C. It is equally 
well established by native Sanscrit scholars that the Rig 
Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas (not three, as stated 
above) can be traced back to 4000 B. C. by certain reckon- 
ings, 5000 B. C. by other scholars, and even one authority 
now on that line of research states that 6000 B. C. will not 
be sufficient for certain specified portions of the Rig Veda. 
The Chinese Cyclopaedia is now given an antiquity of con- 
tinuous thread of events of over 4000 B. C. and there are 
documents which have been inspected by both Japanese and 
European scholars in the Chinese text which antedate the 
Cyclopedias. The Hittites, a powerful nation, from whom 
the Jews borrowed much of their earlier traditions, have 
an hieroglyphic literature which no man living can trans- 
late. The discoveries in Crete show an earlier Grecian 
thought far antedating Homer or Hesiod. The Thibetan 
rolls show an antiquity equal to any of the above, and 
though problematical as yet, it is conceded that they must 
pertain to the earlier Turanian. 

Yet in all of these early productions, and along with 
them, the baked clay tablets of ancient Nippur, brought to 
light by Professor Hilprecht, there is shown by unmistak- 
able professions that man in the earliest of the early, and 
in all of these ancient civilizations, had a clear and pro- 
nounced belief in immortality, or to modify it, a trust in 
another life. 

This ought to be convincing as to that part of the New 
York editor's statement — "as far back as human records 
go." 

Professor Max Muller was in England, not India, when 
he wrote the edifying book, "What India Can Teach Us." 

219 



Therein, he stated, that he had no reliable evidence of San- 
scrit writings earlier than 1200 B. C. But European schol- 
ars then in India answered him promptly that they had evi 
deuce, if he had not, of Sanscrit, even the Rig Veda extend- 
ing more than 2000 B. C. The search continued, and finally 
one accomplished Hindu, Patek, by astronomical calcula- 
tion, as stoutly maintained that certain verses must be as 
old as 6000 B. C, and in writing. The trail has been pur- 
sued by Theosophical scholars in India, and it is now put 
forth with assurance that the deeper they go into the search 
the more probable it seems that much more time must be 
allowed. 

Even Prof. Max Muller, as late as 1892, in his inaugu- 
ral address as President of the International Congress of 
Orientalists, was obliged to say: 

"I must confess, the deeper we delve, the farther the 
solution of this problem seems to recede from our grasp; 
and we may here, too, learn the old lesson that our mind 
was not made to grasp beginnings. We know the beginnings 
of nothing in this world, and the problem of the origin of 
language, which is but another name for the origin of 
thought, evades our comprehension quite as much as the 
problem of the origin of our planet and of the life upon it, 
or the origin of space and time, whether without or with- 
in us. 

****** 
We are often asked why it should be impossible to cal- 
culate how many centuries it must have taken before that 
Proto-Aryan language could have become so differentiated 
and so widely divergent as Sanscrit is from Greek, or Lat- 
in from Gothic. If argued geologically, we might say, no 
doubt, that it took a thousand years to produce so small a 
divergence as that between Italian and French, and that 
therefore many thousands of years would not suffice to ac- 
count for such a divergence as that between Sanscrit and 
Greek. We might,- therefore, boldly place the first diverg- 
ence of the Aryan language at 5000 B. C. and refer the unit- 
ed Aryan period to the time before 5000 B. C. That period 
again would require many thousands of years, if we are to 



220 



account for all that had become dead and purely formal in 
the Proto-Aryan language before it began to break up into 
its six ethnic varieties, that is, into Celtic, Teutonic, Slav- 
onic, Greek, Latin, and Indo-Eranic. 

If then we must follow the example of geology and fix 
chronological limits for the growth of the Proto-Aryan lan- 
guage, previous to the consolidation of the six national 
languages, 10,000 B. C. would by no means be too distant as 
to the probable limit of what I should call our historical 
knowledge of the existence of Aryan speakers somewhere 
in Asia." 

And the Theosophical students of India are pressing 
on this line with avidity. They discover at every step back- 
ward into time, that there was no period during which 
there were not wise men who believed in a life hereafter. 

Gladstone followed this trail on the Semitic lines, and 
came to the same conclusion. The learned Professors in 
many of the Mohammedan colleges are on the same search, 
and prove as Max Muller said that on many points, so mod- 
ern a language as Arabic is more primitive than Hebrew, 
while, in other gramatical formations Hebrew is more 
primitive than Arabic. Here, too, as far back as the rec- 
ords go, the higher thought of man believed in a life to 
come. 

It may be as well to remind the busy man on the 
street, that modern scholarship dates the beginning of the 
Old Testament as we now have it, at about 500 B. C, when 
a layman named Nehemiah found in the archives of a 
Babylonian library an ancient document pertaining to He- 
brew thought. If we could have had the traditions just as 
this book-worm found them, there would, perhaps, have 
been a more intelligent and scholarly presentation. But he 
called in the aid of Ezra, a priest, and here, the coloring of 
the partisan is laid on. When a priest finds anything in 
any language, race, or clime, it is apt to be moulded into a 
shape to conform to his sect, and his sect, is always the 
sect, the church, the only church. Nevertheless it will be 

221 



difficult to convince the hard-headed thinker of our day that 
Moses even if he wrote the Pentateuch, gave an account 
of his own death and burial. Ingersoll made a reputation 
on "Mistakes of Moses." The Theosophist is inclined to 
absolve Moses. He was dead long before the mistakes were 
made. 

In further answer to the New York editor, the Theos- 
ophist takes a bolder stand than "as far back as the records 
go." He asserts that man believed in a future life before 
there were records, before the art of writing. This he 
proves by the aid of the greater light which the study of 
Psychology throws upon these grave problems, and it is 
consistent with the older wisdom of the Sages of the East. 
The "Oracles of Truth" it was said by the Wise Men, had 
been heard, Sruta, and from this arose the word Sruti, th-3 
recognized term for divine revelation in Sanscrit (see Sa- 
cred Books of the East, vol. 1, p. xiii). And this is in line 
with the reasoning of Professor Brinton, heretofore quoted. 
Man has always been in communication with the Universal 
Mind. He is part of the Universal Mind. He has always 
known more than writings could tell him. He believed in 
immortality before he discovered the means of transcrib- 
ing his thought. Modern scholarship will sustain the The- 
osophist in this position. It will be disputed, however, by 
the Materialistic School, but the Theosophist is not pre- 
pared to accord to the Materialist the credit of the ripest 
wisdom of the day. 

Yet another topic in controversy. It is charged by the 
partisan pleaders of orthodox pulpits and their subservient 
following that Theosophists readily lend their aid to every 
movement which aims to strike down accepted Christian 
observances, and emphasis was given recently on this al- 
leged action of Theosophists, because they united in a pro- 
test against singing orthodox hymns in the public schools. 

222 



The Theosophist is here, as usual, misrepresented. It is 
not the singing of devotional hymns to which he objects. 
Cardinal Newman's great hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light" will 
he accepted by a Theosophist in the home circle or in the 
school for that matter, and many another production from 
Jew, Gentile, Barbarian, Greek, bond or free. The elevat- 
ing influence of music is also heartily commended. But it 
is on the psychological ground that the objection primarily 
rests. The hymns create false ideals in the minds of the 
children. An inspection of a certain collection adopted by 
the School Board of the District of Columbia reveals the 
fact that a majority of the hymns keep the monotonous and 
un-American intonation of King, King, Crown, Crown, Scep- 
tre, Court, Throne, Throne, and all the corresponding terms 
fitted to a ruler over subjects instead of a father over chil- 
dren. And aside from this psychological tendency to daze 
the minds of the youth, is the keeping before them false 
ideals, which are in direct opposition to the spirit of the 
Fathers of our Country. They had done with kings and 
thrones, and sceptres and crowns. They built a civil polity 
based on the dignity of Man. Every man his own priest 
and king! It was the slogan of the Revolution. It was 
woven into the thought of the Nation. It created that as- 
pect of a higher evolution which now manifests as the 
Initiative in American character, and this keeping in cho- 
rus by a majority of the preachers the old ideas of the di- 
vine right of kings only further proves that of all the 
learned professions the clergy, as a rule, are the most im- 
practicable, and least fitted to conform to any new environ- 
ment. 

The tendency now, even discerned by the average read- 
er of newspapers, is toward a Christian Democracy, not an 
ideal structure patterned after decayed and effete monar- 
chies or empires, keeping the ethnic impress uppermost. 
Hymns in the schools, the Theosophist would be glad to 

223 



hear, if attuned to the noblest ideals of the great new race 
which is forming on this continent, and it may not be con 
sidered presumptuous in the author, if he dare prophesy, 
that in accord with the unconscious cerebration which is 
ever at work, asleep or awake, the time will soon come, 
when a majority of the Catholic Church in America will 
see the injustice of adhering longer to a regal structure, 
which for its own perpetuation, keeps a majority of votes 
in Italy to beat off the rest of the world, at an election of 
a Pope. 

Nor need this opportunity be allowed to slip without 
noting that the same inherited tendency has manifested in 
certain Theosophical camps. The worship of a "leader" Ls 
the case in point. In strict Theosophical thought there can 
be no "leaders" which can lord it over the individual 
Karma. Yet we have seen a body of Theosophists controlled 
by the suggestion of an ambitious "Head," and a vote given, 
overthrowing the autonomy established after the pattern 
of the United States constitution, and invested with powers 
which properly belong to a pontiff. This insane un-Ameri- 
can tendency seems to have been bitten into the cells of a 
certain following. 

There is reason for congratulation in the action of 
"The Theosophical Society in America" at its recent con- 
vention, whereby the future looks promising to the cultiva- 
tion of a Theosophical Democracy. There is now no per- 
sonal head as President or otherwise. The functions of the 
administration of affairs are now delegated to a Committee 
of Seven chosen from various parts of the country: and 
hereafter, whenever three persons gather together for a 
serious study of the principles of the culture, there is vest- 
ed an autonomous power to regulate its own affairs. This 
action will appeal to thinking people and it will surely re- 
sult on American soil, as do all such attempts, in a large 
and compact body held together by the principles inherent 

224 



in the teachings. There is no constitution, no dogma, no 
creed, no law, compelling people to be polite. Politeness 
grows because of its intrinsic merit. Theosophy will grow 
by the same power, actuating because of the truth disclosed. 
Theosophy cannot be claimed by right of "trade mark" by 
any camp, and an attempt to declare the other Society false 
and fraudulent will react on the bigoted partisans who 
make such charges. 

One more controverted question. It is charged that the 
teachings introduced from the Orient unmake the strenu- 
ous life characteristic of the Occident. This, because it is 
found that Theosophists are opposed to war. They are op- 
posed to war, and to the last day of their incarnation they 
will sit at the feet of teachers who proclaim against it. 
But this does not kill the lofty patriotic spirit which moves 
the American people to action for the perpetuation of their 
cherished ideals. At the founding of the first society in 
New York in 1875 two soldiers of prominence were leaders 
in the movement, Colonel Olcott and General Arthur Doub- 
leday, one of the heroes of Gettysburg, and one of the com- 
mittee of seven now constituted for "The Theosophical So- 
ciety in America" is a Major General, a soldier of 
such purity of character as to call forth tributes of praise. 
The author of these pages served his country throughout 
the war of 1861>65. Numbers of veterans are enrolled 
among the Theosophists the world over. Yet all are op- 
posed to war in the sense that the Theosophist is against 
it. All would again fight where patriotic duty calls for 
action. 

Let the student recall the wisdom taught in the Bhaga- 
vad=Gita, a text book in Theosophical class rooms, wherein 
Arjuna, fearing to slay his own kin in battle arrayed on the 
opposing side begs Krishna for counsel, and utters with 
woe: 

225 



"When I shall have destroyed my kindred, shall I long- 
er look for happiness? How, O Krishna, can we be happy 
hereafter, when we have been the murderers of our race?" 

Krishna : 

"Whence, O Arjuna, cometh upon thee this dejection in 
matters of difficulty, so unworthy of the honorable, and 
leading neither to heaven nor to glory? It is disgraceful, 
contrary to duty, and the foundation of dishonor. Yield 
not thus to unmanliness, for it ill-becometh one like thee. 
Abandon, O tormentor of thy foes, this despicable weakness 
of thy heart, and stand up!" 

The question of a meat diet has entered into contro- 
versy at intervals. Certain Theosophists declaim against 
flesh eating; they are overcharged with Hindu teachings 
which are well enough in their own environment, and can 
be explained by the scientist as climatic, therefore seemly; 
nevertheless, it can be proven by the same course of severe 
reasoning that climatic conditions prevail here, also. The 
racial traits are to be taken into consideration, and the 
conclusion is well justified that while we do, perhaps, eat 
more meat than is for our own good, nevertheless, a teach- 
ing which would prohibit it altogether, is not called for 
at this stage of our evolution. Such ideas, when conform- 
ing with the best thought of the day, are wholesome, and 
lead the people to a wise discrimination, preventing abuse 
of the physical system. It is also to be considered, acting 
in accord with the highest authorities and personal expe- 
rience as well, that abuse of the physical organism may re- 
sult from a too forcible abstaining from that which our 
own Karma has implanted into our very cells. Yet, an oc- 
casional Theosophical writer or speaker, will grow vehe- 
ment on this topic, ascribing all crimes to animal destruc- 
tion, quoting Pope, who protested against "kitchens sprin- 
kled with blood," and insisting that animal food per se, en- 
genders crime. Plutarch is also referred to because he told 

226 



us that Pythagoras ate no pork, and wondered what first 
"led men to eat carcass." 

Symbolism in Theosophy comes in for a share of ani- 
madversion. To the student it is valuable for its educa- 
tional suggestiveness. The human race has not yet devel- 
oped to that stage where an idea can be held in the mind, 
standing alone, in clearness of realization. Symbols aid: 
but they are not "grace giving" as Cardinal Manning de- 
clared of the symbolism of the Roman Church. The more 
recent term "Epigraphy," the art of deciphering the epi- 
grammatic wisdom of the ancients embedded in hieroglyph- 
ics, is adopted by a certain school of archaeologists, but it 
will require time for the general public to become as well 
acquainted with it after having studied under tro very com- 
prehensive and not objectionable term-symbolism. Several 
symbols are displayed in Theosophical halls, and they serve 
the same purpose as do those of Free Masonry. They are 
instructive, not specially sacred nor holy. 

A political gathering in the hall of the Theosophists on 
an off-night in Washington, brought out some strange com- 
ments as the ancient symbolism was scanned. One over- 
practical egotist declared that the "winged-globe" was bor- 
rowed from Baltimore, for he had seen it there on a Brew- 
ery sign! 

This amusing incident, however, will not surpass the 
ludicrous aspect of the good Presbyterian brother at a week- 
ly prayer meeting in one of the most costly edifices of the 
National Capital. Rising from his seat when he felt the 
strong pressure of the "spirit" moving him to "take part in 
meetin'," he surprised his hearers in declaring that right 
here at the great Federal Center, there were people who 
still "bowed down to graven images." The preacher who 
presided was so astounded to think that in Washington 
there could be such a heathenish practice in vogue that he 

227 



asked the brother to explain and state what class of citi- 
zens indulged in such forbidden rites. The sanctimonious 
brother arose again and said, "The Theosophists! " And 
many of that audience believe to this day that he spoke the 
truth, because, as a matter of course, a pious man one of 
the strictest of his sect, under the influence of the holy 
spirit could not possibly lie. 

It was to enable the other side of a question to be seen 
that these pages were projected into the gaze of the public. 
Pacts can be judged from another point of view. 

An improtant item in the growing Theosophic thought 
in America is, that of defining the various camps. A lady 
in Washington who has traveled extensively in the East 
and has met Theosophists in all sections of the world, sug- 
gests that the confusion arising in the minds of the people 
can best be cleared by designating the members of the "The- 
osophical Society in America by the abbreviated title — 
"American Theosophists." To this, the author yields cor- 
dial assent. There is a camp calling itself "The American 
Section of the Theosophical Society." Section of what? A 
segment of a Society which has its headquarters in India. 
Its Australian contingent is called a Section. So with other 
Nationalites, or races, or peoples. 

The Theosophical Society, as such, was organized in 
New York in 1875. Shortly afterward, Col. Olcott, its Presi- 
dent, went to India and established headquarters there. 
Some difficulties having arisen the Americans seceded from 
the Society as thus planted in India, and in 1894 established 
at the convention held at Boston "The Theosophical Society 
in America." The autonomy has been American from that 
day. It is as legitimately an American institution as is 
the United States a distinct Government, the colonies hav- 
ing seceded from the Mother Country. The American The- 
osophists, as such, if the name can be adopted, can show 

228 



a trunk line of descent from the original society, and 
whether the secession was, or was not justifiable, it is too 
late now to attempt to remedy the status. The teachings 
in the American camp are thoroughly American as opposed 
to certain vagaries from representatives of the Eastern 
School. 

Yet, looking at the future, the American Theosophists, 
realizing that there is good in all religions, all philosophies, 
all sciences, can still declare with George Washington in 
the opening article of the Treaty sent to the Senate in 179G, 
when discussing affairs with Tripoli: 

"As the Government of the United States of America 
is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion — as it 
has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, relig- 
ion or tranquility of the Mussulmans, it is declared by the 
parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall 
ever produce an interruption of the harmony between the 
two countries." 

The Father of His Country knew as much of the found- 
ing of this Nation as any of the delegates to the Constitu- 
tional Convention who sat with closed doors for four 
months in 1787, and who agreed that the proceedings should 
not be published until forty years had expired. An Ameri- 
can Theosophist, in answer to Rev. Talmage, who cites the 
incident of a certain preacher demanding of Alexander 
Hamilton why the word "God" was left out of the Constitu- 
tion, — would respectfully ask that the answer Hamilton 
gave to said preacher be published in the same sermon. 

The Fathers in the Constitution were unquestionably 
the ablest body of jurists, legislators and statesmen that had 
ever assembled on the continent of North America. They 
knew what they were doing. 

The words under the Great Seal of the United States 
express the true American idea: 

"Novo Ordo Seclorem" — a new order for the ages; the 
229 



old had run long enough with its terrors mostly begotten 
by priestcraft. The figure on the obverse of the Seal, an 
unfinished Pyramid attested the monstrous, yet uncomplet- 
ed work, but the triangular capstone poised above, ready to 
be fitted in the fullness of time, with the All-Seeing-Eye, tha 
whole enclosed by the rays of a sunrise, signified a com- 
plete work, further emphasized by the inscription over it; — 
Annuit Coeptis — the year of a New Undertaking, And this 
Undertaking by Americans, was an endeavor to construct a 
synthesis, at once all inclusive. It sought to adopt all that 
had gone before; to found a model for a broad theory of 
ideas by which all the old could be supplanted without im- 
pairing the unity. That capstone would gracefully fit 
Egyptian Symbolism, for it and the incomplete Pyramid 
were borrowed from it; Chaldean philosophy and Parsee 
duty (to pure thoughts) pure words, pure deeds; Brahmani- 
cal spiritualism as well as its offspring, Buddhistic intro- 
spection; Greek philosophy and Roman law; Alexandrian 
University thought and Arabian secret lore combined with 
a true Christianity. 

The American Theosophist desires to perpetuate the 
great Undertaking symbolized in the Seal. To do this he 
realizes that while it has been claimed by an authority that 

Hinduism builds on Essence. 

Egypt builds on the Great 

Zorostrianism builds on Light. 

Confucius builds on Permanence. 

Buddhism builds on Rest. 

Greece builds on Beauty. 

Mohammedanism builds on Will. 

Christianity builds on Fatherhood. 

Theosophy builds on Motherhood as well, and all of the 
above. 

The whole can be fused into one and when the Pyramid 
is complete, a future religion will find a finished Whole. 

230 



And, in retaining all, we do no violence to the declara- 
tion of Huxley: 

"The tendency of the enlightened thought of the day 
all the world over is not toward Theology but Philosophy, 
Science and Psychology. The fundamental principles of 
evolution are being accepted by the thoughtful. The bark 
of theologial dualism is drifting into danger." 

Hence the American Theosophist endeavors to ascertain 
truth by the aid of a true science. He must do so if he is 
to keep up with the procession of the highest thought, and 
in doing this, he conforms again to Prof. Max Muller: 

"Theosophy must occupy a position to that of the past, 
and express the highest thought of the time, as that thought 
widens with ever-growing experience. This is not a re- 
treat but a change of front." 

In this ever progressive march the essentials of a pure 
Christianity will be preserved intact, for what is pure as 
Christian, is pure as Buddhism, or any other religion in its 
purity. As Emerson justly said: 

"To say that this, that and the other precept of the 
New Testament cannot be paralleled in the sacred books of 
the non-Christian religions,, only proves how narrowly we 
have read." 

And Rev. John W. Chadwick makes a stronger declara- 
tion: 

"There is not a single noble sentiment or lofty aspira- 
tion in the New Testament that cannot be paralleled in one 
or another of the other Scriptures of the world." 

The American Theosophist, always adhering to Ameri- 
can ideals, and standing for liberty of conscience, "is a whole- 
some leaven in the lump. The bigotry of the orthodox church- 
es is not yet effaced. The teachings of Jefferson and Mad- 
ison on ethics and other matters outside the domain of 
active politics demand rehearsal in the by-ways as well as 
in text-books. It is only by thus renewing and reinforcing 
the motive power, not by denning morality that the great 
moral reforms and movements have been made. 



231 



It is due to Oriental scholarship that the gray twilight 
of ancient history has been illuminated as if by the rays of 
an unsuspected sunrise. We see continuity and purpose 
from beginning to end, where before we saw nothing but an 
undecipherable chaos. With every new discovery that is 
made, whether in the royal libraries of Babylonia, or in the 
tombs of Egypt, or in the sacred books of Persia and India, 
the rays of that sunshine are spreading wider and wider, 
and under its light the ancient history of our race seems to 
crystallize and to disclose in the very forms of its crystal- 
lization, laws or purposes running through the most distant 
ages of the world, of which our forefathers had no sus- 
picion. Here it is where Oriental studies appeal, not to 
specialists only, but to all who see in the history of the 
human race the supreme problem of philosophy, a problem 
which in the future will have to be studied, not as hereto- 
fore, by a priori reasoning, but chiefly by the light of his- 
torical evidence. The Science of Language, the Science of 
Mythology, the Science of Religion, aye, the Science of 
Thought, all have assumed a new aspect, chiefly through the 
discoveries of Oriental scholars who have placed facts in 
the place of theories, and displayed before us the historical 
development, a worthy rival displayed by the genius and 
patient labor of Darwin. — Max Muller. 



"There is one Supreme Mind which transcends all other 
intelligence. It pervades the system of worlds and is yet 
infinitely beyond *it. I am myself a manifestation of the 
Supreme Being. 

— Hindu. 

Of Thy Divine power, the first word is Reason and the 
last is Man. —Persian. 

He who made us is present with us though we are alone. 

— Egyptian. 

A man may recite large portions of the Law, but if he 
is not a doer he is like a herdsman who counts the cattle 
of others. —Buddhist. 

232 



To develop the principles of our higher nature is vo 
know heaven. — Chinese. 

Cultivate piety and banish costliness from temples. 

— Roman. 

He who gives should forget his gift, and he who receives 
should always remember it. — Grecian. 

Wherever ye be, prove yourselves emulous in good 
deeds. — Mohammedan. 

Blessed is the man whose conscience hath not condemn- 
ed him. — Jewish. 



THE GOLDEN RULE. 

The true rule in business is to guard and do by the 
things of others as they do by their own. — Hindu. 

He sought for others the good he desired for himself. 
Let him pass on. — Egyptian. 

Do as you would be done by. — Persian. 

One should seek for others the happiness one desires 
for oneself. — Buddhist. 

What you would not wish done to yourself do not unto 
others. — Chinese. 

Let none of you treat his brother in a way he himself 
would dislike to be treated. — Mohammedanism. 

Do not that to a neighbor which you would take ill 
from him. — Grecian. , 

The law imprinted on the hearts of all men is to love 
the members of society as themselves. 

— Roman. 

233 



Whatsoever you do not wish your neighbor to do to yoa 
do not unto him. This is the whole law, the rest is a mere 
exposition of it. — Jewish. 



All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye even so to them. — Christian. 

The Veda is the real Theogony of the Aryan races, 
while that of Hesiod is a distorted caricature of the original 
image. If new light is to be thrown on the most ancient 
and the most interesting period in the history of the human 
mind, the period in which names were given, that light 
must come from the Vedas. — Max Muller. 

The history of philosophy in India is an abridgement 
of the philosophical history of the world. — Cousin. 

Professor Roth, in the Journal of the German Oriental 
Society, vol. iv, p. 427, after quoting several passages from 
the Veda in which a belief in immortality is expressed, re- 
marks with great truth: 

"We here find, not without astonishment, beautiful con- 
ceptions on immortality expressed in unadorned language 
with childlike conviction. If it were necessary, we might 
find here the most powerful weapons against the view which 
has lately been revived and proclaimed as new, that Persia 
was the only birthplace of the idea of immortality, and 
that even the nations of Europe had derived it from that 
quarter." 

He who gives alms goes to the highest place; he goes 
to the gods. 

Where there is eternal light, in that immortal imperish- 
able state, place me. 

Where life is free, in the third heaven where all is ra- 
idant, there make me immortal. 

—Rig Veda, i, 125, 56. 

234 



Where there is happiness and delight, where joy and 
pleasure reside, where the desires of our highest desire are 
attained, there make me immortal. 

—Rig Veda, ix, 113, 7. 

What is now called the Christian religion, has existed 
among the ancients and was not absent from the beginning 
of the human race. — St. Augustine. 

The fathers and founders of the Chinese race appear to 
have been monotheists. They believed in an omnipotent, 
omniscient and omnipresent Being, the moral governor of 
the world and the impartial judge of man. 

— Rev. George Owen of Pekin. 

In the higher and more gifted minds of the ancient Ak- 
kadian we find a pure monotheism. — Charles H. S. Davis — 

Preface to the Book of the Dead. 

Men are mortal gods, and gods are immortal men. 

HERI AKLEITO S . 

This is not a matter of to-day, 

Or yesterday, but hath been from all times 

And none hath told us whence it came, or how. 

— Sophocles. 

We Indians cannot die eternally; even Indian corn, 
buried in the ground, is revived and rises again. 

— Ancient Peruvian Maxim. 



Man, know thyself. 

235 



— Greek Maxim. 



